Hometown Habitat Heroes

The Hometown Habitat crew has some great news! But 1^st, a status update.

Director, Catherine Zimmerman, films students with Habitat Hero Todd Crail as they learn how native habitat on the land affects healthy stream life. photo Hal Mann

Residents of Cherry Creek 3 volunteer to re-landscape 251 townhome fronts with native and adapted plants.  image Hometown Habitat

Hard to believe we are already in mid-July. The crew is back out on the road to finish getting pick-up shots.

Each story we travel to tell needs multiple visits to locations to tell the complete story. We revisited SE Florida to get mangrove planting, the Rocky Mountains to profile an HOA in their efforts to save water with better, native landscaping choices. They now save about 14 million gallons of water a year, while also providing habitat!

Bees, butterflies and birds enjoy new found habitat at HOA, Cherry Creek 3 image Hometown Habitat

And just last week we were in the Great Lakes region to complete our story with Wild Ones. Wild Ones have been advocating for native landscapes for more than 35 years.

Wild Ones, Linda and Dallas Howard, have turned their backyard, planted with native plants, into an oasis for pollinators and aquatic life.  photo Catherine B. Zimmerman

This month we complete the “development” story where the development paradigm has been turned upside down. Instead of “planting” 600 acres of houses, developers George and Vicky Rammey collaborated with ecologist Steve Apfelbaum to create a holistic, sustainable community. Half of the acreage is devoted to prairie habitat which manages storm water and provides other eco-system services such as carbon sequestration, cleaning water, building topsoil, pollinating food plants and, of course, providing oxygen. Along with this innovative approach to the land, the community incorporates organic farming and a charter school, which makes environmental issues part of its core curriculum.

Aerial view of Prairie Crossing, which celebrates its 20th birthday this August! photo Steve Apfelbaum

So, a very exciting, educational film is in the works, and we need your support to make this happen. Our good news is we have an anonymous donor willing to match donations up to $5000. That means we can raise $10,000. So your $25 donation becomes $50 or your $100 donation becomes $200! If you would like to support this project, this is a great time to help us meet our goal and be part of a transformative film. Please, make our day!

Many thanks,

Catherine