The Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments has installed two new ozone gardens; one at the PPACG office and one at Concrete Coyote Community Park. The gardens are part of the National Ozone Garden Network program, which helps communities learn more about ground-level ozone and its impacts on plants and people. These gardens contain a unique selection of plants known as “bioindicator species” due to their ability to show visible evidence of surface-level ozone air pollution through leaf damage. For this reason, ozone gardens can be used to assess air quality and visualize the impacts that poor air quality can have on our environment.
The gardens include tolerant and sensitive varieties of soybeans and snapbeans, as well as milkweed and coneflower. The ozone season has been particularly hot and dry this year, providing conditions for ample ground-level ozone formation to disrupt the process of photosynthesis. This, combined with additional pressure from wildfire smoke, led to the plants not growing as expected. The milkweed and coneflower never sprouted, possibly also due to warmer than normal overnight temperatures, and the sensitive varieties of soybeans died quickly. But the snapbeans were a perfect observation tool for the impact of air quality on the surrounding environment.
The photos below show the stunted growth, discoloration, and leaf damage observed on the sensitive variety of snapbean, compared to the otherwise healthy tolerant variety.
Tolerant (left) and sensitive (right) varieties of snapbean show different growth and coloration
Ground-level ozone is a common air pollutant in the Pikes Peak Region. This pollutant can have meaningful impacts on plants including tissue damage, slowed growth, and affect overall ecosystem health and wellbeing. Damaged plants often struggle to support surrounding ecosystems, as can be seen here in the snapbean plants.
While at the gardens, observe the leaves and overall condition of the plants, and help researchers collect data by submitting your findings through the QR codes provided on interpretive signage. Observations will contribute valuable citizen science data that helps researchers track ozone impacts and better understand local air quality conditions.
The two gardens are located at:
- PPACG, 14 S. Chestnut St., Colorado Springs, CO 80905
- Concrete Coyote Community Park, 1100 S. Royer St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903