Hazel Dell Community Garden & Pollinator Strip
A community-led effort to restore land, support pollinators, and grow connection in NE Hazel Dell / West Minnehaha Neighborhood
A neglected strip of utility corridor in Hazel Dell is transforming into a vibrant community space — a garden for pollinators, people, and the planet. Located at 1802 NE Minnehaha St, this land is part of a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) right-of-way. Through a grassroots partnership between local neighbors, federal employee volunteers, and environmental stewards, we’re working to turn this underused land into a living example of regenerative ecology and community care.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
We’re just getting started, and we’d love your help shaping what the Hazel Dell Community Garden becomes. Whether you want to dig in, share ideas, or just stay in the loop, we’d love to hear from you.
Fill out our quick interest form and let us know how you’d like to be part of it.
🌱 The Vision
This is a multi-year project, just at the seed stage. Here's what we hope to grow over time:
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A thriving pollinator garden with native flowering plants and habitat features
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Soil regeneration using compost, mulch, and cover crops
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A food-producing community garden space, co-designed with neighbors
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Educational signage and space for community gathering
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A local stewardship group to maintain and evolve the site
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An opportunity for city dwellers to engage with nature and the healing practice of growing food while partnering with biology
🧑🌾 Community Roots
This project is:
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Volunteer-led and community-powered
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Open to all who want to help and learn
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Grounded in values of sustainability, inclusion, and long-term stewardship
🌼 What Is a Pollinator Strip?
A pollinator strip is a planted area, usually long and narrow, filled with native wildflowers, grasses, and flowering shrubs that provide essential food and habitat for pollinating insects like bees, butterflies, and beetles. These strips are designed to support biodiversity while fitting into the edges of urban spaces, farms, or infrastructure corridors.
This project will transform a utility right-of-way into a thriving pollinator strip that benefits not just insects, but the entire local ecosystem and community.
🌎 Ecological Benefits
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Supports Native Wildlife: Provides habitat for a variety of native pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects
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Boosts Biodiversity: Helps restore balance in areas dominated by invasive species or monocultures
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Improves Soil Health: Deep-rooted plants build organic matter, prevent erosion, and promote microbial life
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Connects Fragmented Habitat: Acts as a corridor for wildlife movement across urbanized areas
🚜 Benefits to Local Agriculture
For nearby farms like Arcadia Refuge, pollinator strips play a vital role:
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Increased Pollination: Improves fruit and seed production in vegetables, herbs, and flowers
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Pest Control Support: Attracts predatory insects that help manage pests naturally
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Microclimate Buffering: Offers windbreaks and shade for young crops
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Educational Value: Demonstrates sustainable growing practices and community-scale conservation
🏘️ Benefits to the Community
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Beautifies neglected land, transforming an overgrown area that currently attracts litter and illegal dumping
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Inspires community pride and stewardship, showing what’s possible when neighbors work together
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Provides a gathering place for volunteer events, learning, and connection
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Demonstrates sustainability in action, fostering a culture of care for land, wildlife, and each other
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Empowers local ownership, offering an opportunity for residents to not just enjoy public space, but to co-create and care for it together
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Complements nearby parks by giving the neighborhood a space that’s by the community, for the community — a project rooted in participation and shared purpose
This is more than a landscaping project, it’s a shift in how we treat our shared spaces. By reclaiming this forgotten strip of land, we’re building a more resilient and connected neighborhood from the soil up.
💚 Gratitude
This work is possible because of a coalition of caring people — from neighbors and volunteers to BPA staff and local supporters. Thank you for helping us grow something meaningful.





Timeline
2024
Partnership Building & Discovery
We began by navigating the complex ownership of the site, which is a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) transmission corridor with historical agricultural rights. With persistence and support from BPA staff and local officials, we secured permission to begin stewarding the land.
November 2024 – Site Prep: Blackberry Removal
The first physical step was clearing the dense blackberry brambles that had overtaken the area. This gave us a blank slate and revealed the potential of the site for transformation.
2025
Ground Work
As part of National Pollinator Week, we’ll host our first major work party, focused on cleaning up litter, weeding, planting native species, and laying the foundation for a thriving pollinator garden and community space.
We're also kicking off organizing for the community garden, which will help shape the future vision of the site.
Into the Future
In the coming years, we plan to continue building out the site with educational signage, food-producing beds, and seasonal volunteer days. Our long-term goal is to cultivate a shared space that grows alongside the community, fostering learning, biodiversity, and lasting connection.
Connection with Arcadia Farm & Nursery
The Hazel Dell Community Garden shares space, spirit, and stewardship with Arcadia Refuge Farm & Nursery, a small-scale regenerative farm operating on the same BPA transmission corridor. Though the farm is a privately owned business and the garden is a volunteer-led community project, the two efforts are deeply interconnected.
Both spaces were born from the same vision: to restore neglected land, support pollinators, and build resilient, beautiful spaces for people and wildlife. We are sister projects, rooted in shared values of care, sustainability, and education.
Together, we:
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Share tools, knowledge, and labor
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Support each other’s events and infrastructure
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Collaborate with Arcadia Avian Refuge, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to bird rescue and ecological stewardship
While Arcadia Refuge Farm operates as a for-profit nursery, the Hazel Dell Community Garden is open to all and led by volunteers. Our hope is that by working side by side, we can model what it looks like to do the most with what we have, and create a thriving, interconnected green corridor that supports both community and ecosystem health.