New Ulm’s Pollinator Park was officially established in 2017 and is located at 2250 N. Broadway.

The update was provided by Pollinator Park volunteers Deb Steinberg and Joe Gartner.

Steinberg said that since becoming stewards of the park, the volunteers have been honored to build and restore the habitat to be a hub for pollinators and pollinator education.

She said in 2025, they began tracking volunteer hours for the first time and recorded 500 hours. The 500 volunteer hours were dedicated to weeding, trimming, brush clearing, seed collection, planting seeds, planting pollinator plants, soil prep, maintaining bird feeders, conducting events and photography.

The park at 2250 N. Broadway was officially designated as a pollinator park in 2017. In 2025, volunteers worked 500 hours in the park weeding, trimming, brush clearing, seed collection, planting seeds, planting pollinator plants, soil prep, maintaining bird feeders and conducting events events. Journal file photo from June 2025.

Steinberg said timely rains in 2025 led to a super bloom, creating a variety of colors in the flowers. The park also saw a surge in monarchs during the late summer. She credited the surge to greater deer and rabbit control. Fencing kept the plants safe from wildlife, allowing them to mature for the monarchs.

Volunteers also conducted several education and volunteer events in the park.

“We have the ideal location for our park,” Steinberg said. “Thousands of drivers and walkers can view the Pollinator Park from North Broadway.”

She said it is common for volunteers working in the park to receive positive comments from people passing by the park.

Looking to the future, Gartner said there are plans to finish plantings on the park’s east-facing hillside and continue educational programs for kids and adults through park events. Longterm goals would be to increase the number of volunteers, add a water source and expand and enhance the park.

A concept plan for expanding the existing Pollinator Park from 2.64 acres to 20 acres. The expansion would include additional restored native plantings, new pathways and a nature based play features. Submitted photo

Gartner said the park is currently 2.64 acres in size, but there is space to expand and much of it is city-owned land. He was recently exploring the adjacent land to the park and spotted bald eagles, sandhill cranes and otters.

“This is a very special place,” Gartner said. “The pollinator park sets it apart, but there is more to the area.”

Gartner said they hoped to promote the park locally and regionally as a place to visit.

“If you ask other cities about their pollinator park, they do have them, but it’s small,” he said. “We have a park people might drive a distance to see.”

Park and Rec director Joey Schugel also spoke on the Pollinator Park, showing the commissioners concept maps for what could be done with the park. He said there are an additional 20 acres of city owned land the park could expand into.

The plans call for native pollinator restoration, but also a nature-based play area for kids. Park and Rec has applied for a Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) grant.

Schugel said the biggest challenges facing the Pollinator Park are funding and volunteers. He said most of the volunteering is done by the same few people and they do the work with minimal funding, usually from small donations from area organizations.

Commissioner Anne Earl asked where the nearest city water source was to the pollinator park. She believed that if the park were expanded to 20 acres, water access would be needed.

Schugel said he was not certain of the nearest city water source or the cost of connecting it to the park, but he believed it was doable.

Commissioner David Christian thanked all the volunteers who worked in the park.

“It does look nice,” he said. “You do an excellent job.”

Commission Chair Kurt Johnson agreed it was a special place in the community and encouraged others to volunteer in the park.