Happy Pollinator Week, everyone! To celebrate, learn how you can protect your local pollinators in this guest blog by Camila Cruz from Simpson Street Free Press.
A common buckeye butterfly on a flower, one of NRF’s Photo Contest winners from 2024. Photo by Bruce Bartel
Supporting your local pollinators
Spring and early summer is a good time to think about helping pollinator species. And you can do this right in your own backyard.
The Dane County Land and Water Resources Department is encouraging people to act to support our local pollinators. There are several steps you can take that can help. These steps include planting native plants and providing the types of habitats that pollinators need to survive and thrive.
Student reporters from Simpson Street Free Press have been studying and writing about pollinators for several years. These species are essential to our environment because about 87% of flowering plants on Planet Earth depend on pollinators.
Species like bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds are considered pollinators. These animals visit flowering plants and move pollen around in an ecosystem, which helps native plants grow and reproduce. One important part of this natural process is that it helps our food supply. About 150 food crops in the U.S. depend on pollinator species to do their work.
A tri-colored bumble bee on a clover. Photo by Bruce Bartel
Create your own pollinator habitat
Among the most important of all the pollinators are bees. Bees purposefully collect pollen as a protein source for their offspring, and this makes bees very efficient pollinators. All of us see bees during the spring and summer, and it’s not too difficult to make their job easier.
In fact, there is a website available that will help you evaluate your lawn, or any spot at a school or community center. The Wisconsin Online Pollinator Habitat Assessment provides information you can use if you want to support pollinator habitat. This website is full of tips and suggestions that will help you explore and evaluate a location. It will help you look at factors like the quality of the foraging habitat, nesting habitat, and insecticide use.
Students help plant a butterfly garden on their school grounds, supported by the Go Outside Fund. Photo by Sara Windjue
Resources for getting native plants
One very important way to improve pollinator habitat is to plant the right kind of plants. Here in Dane County, native plants and seeds can be purchased from local and regional plant nurseries that specialize in native plants, as well as the Wisconsin Arboretum and Plant Dane plant sales. Schools and community groups can apply to receive free native plants from Dane County. There are also several libraries in Dane County that provide free native seeds each fall so community members can plant native seeds at home. Bees and other pollinators transfer pollen from flower to flower, thus aiding plant reproduction. So, these are things you can do in your yard or your neighborhood that will help.
By learning about and understanding wild bees and other pollinator species, you can help protect our local environments and landscapes.
People waiting in line outside at the UW-Madison Arboretum native plant sale. Photo by Jack Chandler
Guest Blogger
Camila Cruz
Student Journalist, age 16
Camila is a staff writer and science reporter at Simpson Street Free Press in Dane County.
NRF’s support for pollinators
The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is proud to support pollinator conservation efforts across the state and beyond. NRF partners with many groups such as nature centers, schools, and farms to create pollinator habitat and support research, education, and outreach efforts.
Since 2019, NRF has invested over $800,000 in native pollinator conservation across the state, and put nearly $3 million to work total when matching funds are included. Funding has supported 62 projects with 46 partner organizations. Together, we’ve restored and enhanced nearly 7,000 acres of pollinator habitat. With support from our donors, we’ve been able to:
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- Increase capacity for Wisconsin pollinator conservation
- Create and enhance pollinator habitat
- Advance research and monitoring efforts
- Support pollinator education and outreach
Some of our recent projects include working with potato farmers to add 20 acres of on-farm pollinator habitat, supporting overwintering habitat in Mexico, and restoring crucial pollinator habitat at Rush Creek State Natural Area.
Most of this work was kicked off by an incredible half-million dollar donation in 2019 from an anonymous donor who wanted to help Wisconsin’s pollinators.
A precision agriculture and conservation specialist being interviewed about a project, supported by the WPPF, working directly with farmers to create pollinator habitat. Photo courtesy of Pheasants Forever
Thank you to our supporters
NRF’s pollinator impact is made possible through the support of our donors, supporters, and members. We are grateful to everyone who supports our work to conserve Wisconsin’s lands, waters, and wildlife and connect generations to nature.
Pollinator conservation will take decades of work, and long-term sustainable support. But, the great thing about pollinators is that everyone can get involved, from individuals, to schools, to businesses, to farmers. Our small actions, combined together, can make a difference.
Donations to the Wisconsin Pollinator Protection Fund can be made online here and should be designated to the “Wisconsin Pollinator Protection Fund.”
‘NRF’s support for pollinators’ and ‘Thank you to our supporters’ sections written by Emma Schatz, Digital Communications Coordinator