For our community mapping project, we partnered with NatuR&D, an organization that looks to nature’s billions of years of design experience to solve today’s problems. Specifically, we contributed to their R.U.S.H (Resilient Urban Systems and Habitat) initiative, a collaboration of people working across different sectors who are finding ways to protect our region better, so it can withstand climate change. The overarching goal of the initiative is to demonstrate the connectivity between urban ecological resilience and healthy communities. We, therefore, worked on mapping pollinator gardens and collating information on mother tree networks with the support and guidance of Anne-Marie Daniel, innovation partner of NatuR&D. 

Our project focused on engaging with community members to promote awareness about urban pollinator networks. The methods we used to carry out this project can be categorized into two major segments: community engagement and data compilation. In order to build a solid foundation for the project, we felt it was integral to engage with community members early. For the community engagement segment of the project we developed a survey and interviewed community members at various locations around the Capitol Regional District. This gave us a better understanding of the local connectivity between pollinator gardens and community interest in supporting pollinators. The second segment of this project was data compilation. Another main goal of ours was to present our data and supplemental research in a visually appealing, user-friendly way. It was important that the information we gathered would be easily accessible and contribute to the body of work that will continue to be built within the larger context of the R.U.S.H initiative. We chose to use an Esri ArcGIS StoryMap because it allowed us to present information and visuals in an efficient, narrative-based way. Embedded within the story map are resources to locally specific information on pollinators, mother tree networks, gardens, and how to support the regional environment.