Safe to Grow
EPA provides no-cost environmental assessments for community garden start-ups.
EPA's Region 8 and the Brownfields Program
The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is a federal agency whose mission is to protect human and environmental health. EPA works to ensure that Americans have clean air, water, and soil. Within EPA, Brownfields is a program that provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes, and others to assess and safely clean up contaminated properties.
The EPA Mountains and Plains Region, also called Region 8, is based in Denver and serves an area that includes 6 states and 28 Tribal Nations.
EPA Region 8 States with Tribal Nations
Brownfields
A brownfield is a property that may be contaminated with a hazardous substance or pollutant. The real or potential presence of contaminants inhibits redevelopment of the property. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.
The types of sites are varied, but these are some typical examples of brownfields:
Contaminants may include: heavy metals, petroleum products, asbestos, lead-based paint, and solvents.
Brownfields and gardens?
No one would intentionally grow food in an area that could be polluted. One cannot know, simply by looking at a place, if hazardous materials are present. Sometimes there may be harmful remnants of past land uses that aren't noticeable. Or contaminants can migrate underground from nearby properties and pollute an otherwise clean site.
Spoiler alert: soil tests came back clean!
For example, it is difficult to determine if the soil is clean at this proposed garden site, simply by looking at the surface.
Targeted Brownfields Assessments, TBAs
The EPA Brownfields Program has a tool for checking the environmental health of properties when reuses are being considered. It is called the Targeted Brownfields Assessment, or TBA, and can be used on proposed community garden sites.
The process is easy. A project sponsor submits a simple TBA request to EPA. EPA promptly follows-up with the requester and EPA's consultants begin to investigate the property within a few weeks. The environmental assessment starts with a detailed look at the history of the property and often includes sampling and testing the soil. Learn about EPA Region 8 TBAs.
After samples are collected and analyzed at a certified laboratory, the results are interpreted by an EPA toxicologist, who determines if there are any potential concerns with gardening on the property. The whole process generally takes about 3 to 4 months.
TBAs for Community Gardens
Garden plots at the Asian Pacific Development Center in Aurora, Colorado were developed with assistance from Denver Urban Gardens, and also a TBA. The gardens became very popular, and when the Center decided to expand their gardens, they asked Denver Urban Gardens to help them develop more plots.
Denver Urban Gardens applied for a TBA to check the area where additional gardens were proposed.
The TBA found that surrounding properties include auto repair shops, auto storage areas, a former dry cleaner, a former gas station, and a busy street. These land uses are often associated with soil pollution, such as:
- Metals
- Petroleum products
- Solvents
- Cyanide
- Lead
It was essential to test the soil and groundwater at the Asian Pacific Development Center.
Specialists use an auger to collect soil samples at the Asian Pacific Development Center.
This is the soil and groundwater sampling plan for the Asian Pacific Development Center garden expansion area, developed by EPA's consultants.
Samples were tested for:
- Semi-volatile organic compounds
- Total petroleum hydrocarbons
- Pesticides
- pH
- Over 20 different heavy metals
Soil and water sample collection methods vary, depending on the sampling plan. A truck-mounted drilling rig, pictured here, is used when the soil is too compact to dig by hand, or when deeper testing samples are required.
After all the samples were collected at the Asian Pacific Development Center, sent to a lab, and analyzed, an EPA toxicologist reviewed the analysis results and concluded that test results were within acceptable ranges.
Safe to grow!
What if the soil is contaminated?
At the Asian Pacific Development Center, the environmental assessment provided DUG with certainty that the soil was suitable for an urban garden. They were able to move forward with construction plans and soil amendments.
But at other sites, if soil or groundwater test results are concerning, the EPA toxicologist may be able to suggest other gardening options such as using raised beds with imported soil.
The Village Farms at Stanley Garden shown here is in Aurora, Colorado and is built on a brownfield -- the site of a former aviation manufacturing facility. Soil test results showed elevated levels of the metal thallium, and the garden sponsor, Village Exchange Center, opted to use raised beds as recommended by the EPA toxicologist.
Denver Urban Gardens: A Resource for Communities
Denver Urban Gardens, DUG, provides training and assistance to plan, build, and maintain community gardens. Since 1985 DUG has sponsored more than 180 gardens in the Denver area, including 66 at schools.
EPA has provided environmental assessments for dozens of Denver Urban Gardens [ EXIT ] startups.
"EPA has been an incredible resource. We can now be far more comprehensive in our soil testing approach -- not only in testing the soil, but having the expertise to understand the results, and at no cost to DUG. It's better for us and better for the communities that now have new gardens -- a mutually beneficial arrangement." Jessica Romer, DUG
EPA Community Garden Assistance Around the Region
EPA Garden Assistance Provided in the Denver Area
In addition to many neighborhood groups and public and private schools, other organizations have received EPA soil testing and Denver Urban Gardens assistance. These include:
Focus Points Family Resource Center [ EXIT ]; connects families with resources for adult education, early childhood education, economic opportunity, and health and wellness.
Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative [ EXIT ]; promotes direct citizen action to enhance neighborhood sustainability and reduce residents' environmental footprints.
Village Exchange Center [ EXIT ]; provides support and empowerment for immigrants and refugees.
You can zoom in closer to see the garden locations and click on the red symbols to view details. To download the data, click here .
Fort Totten, North Dakota
When the Spirit Lake Tribe expressed interest in starting a garden at their elderly center in Fort Totten, North Dakota, their brownfields coordinator applied for a TBA.
Click on the red map symbol for details, and to download the data, click here .
Future site of the Spirit Lake Elderly Center garden
Missoula, Montana
Partnerships between EPA and the City of Missoula have supported garden development.
- River Road Neighborhood Farm is the new, expanded headquarters of Garden City Harvest [ EXIT ], an organization that provides local produce to those in need. The site provides an orchard, garden plots, new office space, and a community learning center.
- Homeword, 1717 Montana Street. Homeword [ EXIT ] is an organization that sponsors affordable housing. After a TBA and cleanup, Homeward built small houses on the former brownfields property to pilot a new affordable housing model. They received a grant from a local credit union and installed community gardens in partnership with four other non-profit organizations.
- Montana Rail Link Park. Missoula used a brownfields grant to assess the former railroad property before purchasing it. The land has been transformed into a new park that includes a key trail connection, play areas, picnic shelter, and community gardens sponsored by Garden City Harvest.
Click on the red map symbols to view details, and to download the data, click here .
The Burns Street Center in Missoula. With help from an EPA grant, the site of a former freight warehouse was cleaned up. Now the Burns Street Bistro and community center serve a neighborhood that previously lacked close access to healthy and affordable food.
Gardens Rising
How many community benefits can you identify in this sampling of gardens?
Jefferson Green in Lakewood, Colorado
Hinkley High School in Aurora, Colorado
Village Farms at Stanley in Aurora, Colorado; by Village Exchange Center
“With over 9,000 foreign-born residents within one mile of our farm and over 18,000 within two, we have prime real estate to enable a healthy, multicultural city. Our urban community is a leader in confronting the changes of diversifying cities, and Village Exchange Center is among the organizations affecting these daily efforts and long term visions.” Village Exchange Center
Beyond the garden plots
The beneficial reach of urban gardens extends well into the community. They bring a sense of vitality to previously vacant sites, add visual interest, provide opportunities for social interaction, and often become a centerpiece that enhances the neighborhood's identity.
Like those at the Asian Pacific Development Center, many community gardens serve immigrants and refugees, bringing them constancy and familiar foods during their transition to a new place.
When gardens are installed at schools, they:
- are integrated into curricula
- help expand students' understanding of food and nutrition
- provide fresh produce to cafeterias
- generate opportunities for students to sell the products they grow
Assessment, cleanup, and reuse of vacant land for gardens also brings different kinds of food solutions to neighborhoods. In addition to gardens, EPA brownfields grants have been leveraged to create new food co-ops, farmers markets, and greenhouses.
EPA brownfields grants can be a catalyst to breathe new life into neglected places, turning them into productive land, and in the process invigorating neighborhoods and communities.
For More Information:
- Contact Ted Lanzano , EPA Region 8 Brownfields Project Manager with questions about TBA's, urban gardens, or brownfields
- View all Region 8 Brownfields contacts
- EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization welcomes feedback and suggestions on information or training needs that can help and support community driven brownfield revitalization. Contact EPA about Brownfields.
