Habitat Restoration

A bumble bee visiting a sunflower, in a suburban yard, with a Pollinator Habitat sign in the background.

Want to Save the Bees? Focus on Habitat, Not Honey Bees

Keeping honey bee hives will not help the 3,600 bee species native to North America. In fact, it might do the opposite. The best solution to bee declines is to address underlying causes like habitat loss and pesticide use. Native flower gardens can support all bees.

A brilliant magenta flower stands in front of a black charred tree trunk. The forest has some live and dead conifer trees with a forest floor covered in white and yellow flowers with lots of leafy green growth with a few large black charred tree trunks laying down.

Burning for Butterflies: The Role of Fire in Western Forests

While it may seem counterintuitive to burn plants and trees to conserve wildlife, smaller fires are an essential element of many habitats, like ponderosa pine forests.

Over a hundred students circle around a speaker, listening to instructions for the day

Middle School Students Plant Habitat at a Washington Orchard

Last fall, Washington middle schoolers helped plant blooming hedgerows while learning about a local orchard’s connection to invertebrate conservation.

Patch of habitat with view of San Francisco neighborhood

Habitat projects making a difference for California pollinators

Xerces staff visit planted habitat kits from years past to build long-term relationships with partners and appreciate long-term habitat serving invertebrates and other wildlife.

Group of Xerces staff and community members posing for a picture

Cape Cod Town Transforms Mining Pit to Community Farm

Restored land in Massachusetts makes space for agriculture, wildlife habitat, and community.

U School garden in front of the school, which is painted in murals

High School Students Depave a Parking Lot to Plant a Garden

With support from USDA NRCS, Xerces, and the local community, a Philadelphia high school parking lot became a space for gardening and pollinator habitat.

Why Monarchs Need Early-Season Milkweeds

Western monarchs need milkweed for breeding as soon as they leave their overwintering sites. That's why we partnered on a project to make early-season native milkweed more available in California.

prairie violets that sprouted in restored prairie pocket

The Rewards of Prairie Management: Bountiful Evidence of Recovery

Pocket prairies at a somber site in Iowa are bursting with hope thanks to years of care in the form of techniques like prescribed burns and brush removal.

Bumble bee flies from flower to flower along the Santa Fe Pollinator Trail

A Journey Down the Santa Fe Pollinator Trail

What does it take to build a pollinator-friendly city? Along the Santa Fe Pollinator Trail, this question has been answered plant by plant, across dozens of organizations and hundreds of helping hands.

Volunteers apply cardboard, compost, and mulch to the ground to prepare for habitat restoration at a vineyard

Community Rallies to Restore Pollinator Habitat at a Fifth-Generation Family Winery

The family vineyard LangeTwins values sustainability and local wildlife. The launch of their 4-acre oak savannah restoration project brought the community together for a field day of support for native pollinator habitat. The group's hard work demonstrates the process of sheet mulching to prepare a site for new plantings.

Folks standing next to a truck bed full of nursery plants

Year Two of the Santa Fe Habitat Kit Program: Creating Community and Habitat in the High Desert

Pollinator habitat is making a comeback in Santa Fe. The Xerces Santa Fe Pollinator Habitat Kit Program provides native, drought-tolerant pollinator plants at no cost to residents and organizations in the city. Participants share how a newfound connection to nature has transformed their outlook on their environment and community.

Cover crop blooms in an orchard (Photo: Xerces Society)

More Than Food: A New Roadmap for Agriculture

In recent years, invertebrates on farms have received a little more mainstream attention, often under the broader umbrella of “regenerative agriculture,” a loosely defined philosophy that proposes farms should improve rather than diminish natural resources. With supporting investments from the USDA National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Xerces Society recently inaugurated a five-year, multi-state research and development project focused on evaluating conservation practices that simultaneously maximize climate resilience, biodiversity, and market incentives.

Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners and the habitat kits they are about plant at the Santa Fe County Extension Office Demonstration Gardens. The eighteen species in the kits are native, climate-resilient species which will support a diversity of native pollinators across seasons. (Photo: Kaitlin Haase / Xerces Society)

Conserving Desert Pollinators and Water in the Face of Climate Change

One of the most immediate and tangible ways we can prepare for climate change as individuals is to restore native habitat. This not only builds a greater buffer for plants and animals to survive changing conditions, but makes our own gardens and landscapes more prepared to withstand drier or wetter, hotter or colder weather. While it will take everyone to stop rising temperatures at a global scale, I find hope in the cultivation of little patches of earth throughout Santa Fe hosting pollinator habitat kits.

Man poses with California Habitat Kit plants in truck during pickup. Credit: Angela Laws.

Meet the Partners Saving Pollinators with Xerces’ California Habitat Kits

Over the past three years, Xerces’ California Habitat Kit program has given away over 105,000 plants to partners all across California who are interested in creating habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. We’ve been able to work with some really great people as part of this program who have helped to create habitat in a variety of landscapes.

Part of the bison herd at Rockie Hill Bison Farm, with a view of the city of Winona and the Mississippi River in the background. Photo: Gail Griffin

Selecting seeds for bison, pollinators to share the land

While designing a unique seed mix for restoration takes time, it can be well worth the extra effort. The right mix of plants can boost the long-term ecology and function of a landscape and can be particularly important for working lands – those with multiple uses like agroforestry, grazing and silvopasture. In this article, Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planner Karin Jokela describes making the perfect mix to balance the needs of bison and pollinators.

This photograph shows a flowering meadow on the edge of an orchard. The flowers include tall dark-purple flowers, lower growing pale-purple flowers, and darker pink blooms beyond. In the distance can be seen green forest covering gently sloping hills. The sky has white and pale gray clouds.

Creating Wildflower Meadows from Scratch or by Simply Changing Mowing Regimes

When someone asks for help to increase pollinators in their landscape, many times the initial request is to start a pollinator meadow from seed. We love successful wildflower meadows started from scratch—but they can take several years of work. In the right place, just reducing mowing can result in improved conditions for pollinators.

An area of grassland has been set on fire on purpose. Brown smoke rises into the blue sky from the orange flames that mark the division between the burned and unburned grassland. The burned area to the left is black, the unburned are to the right is green with tall brown stems. A fire manager wearing yellow cloths and a blue helmet is walking along the line of fire.

Burning the Land

Fire has been used to manage prairies for centuries, and remains an important tool for grassland managers to reduce woody plant encroachment and increase flower production of key nectar and pollen sources. However, burning entire landscapes is problematic for pollinators, and fire must be used carefully.

A front garden in which flowers have been planted. Small circles of recently dug soil surround each small, green plant. The garden is edged by a wooden fence made of two horizontal rails and widely spaced posts. In the foreground, attached to the fence is a sign. The sign is green, with colorful flowers and an orange butterfly and brown lettering that says “pollinator habitat”.

Santa Fe Pollinator Habitat Kit Program Connects Pollinators and People

In Santa Fe, NM, Xerces is working with local partners to develop a city-wide Pollinator Trail focused on creating connected habitat through neighborhoods that lack greenspaces. In September, after months of planning and preparation, 350 habitat kits were distributed to residents and organizations. When many people come together around a common goal, small efforts can quickly add up to large-scale conservation.

A photograph of a farm, looking along a recently planted hedgerow. The hedgerow has three rows of bushy plants that stretch into the distance. Many of the plants are in bloom, showing yellow, white, pink, and purple flowers. To the left is a pond, reflecting the blue sky. To the right is a gravel road and apple trees.

Businesses Support the “Little Things that Run the World”

Businesses are a vital part of achieving the necessary change to avert insect declines. We are lucky to work with dozens of them, from independent artists to some of the world’s largest food companies. No matter the size, we work with businesses that share our commitment to protecting biodiversity in all its forms.

Two women stand beside a farm field. One has a black shirt and pale brown pant. The other black pants and a pale brown shirt and is wearing a broad-brimmed hat and carries an orange bag. A strip of brown grass stretches down the edge of the field. Beside the field is an orchard of trees with white trunks and green leaves. In the distance is a green barn and houses with red roofs, and beyond them hills rising toward the blue sky.

The Value of Conservation Planning

Land owners and managers across the state of California have taken up the call to get more habitat in the ground for monarchs. But there’s one important process that comes into play prior to on-the-ground restoration: before we can plant, we plan.

A women wearing a shite shite and a straw hat stands in a meadow, with plants and yellow flowers up to her waist. Behind her a line of tall trees with green leaves stretches into the distance.

Coming Home: A Woman Landowner’s Conservation Calling

The next generation is something Ruth Rabinowitz spends a lot of time thinking about. As an Iowa farmer with a deep commitment to conservation, she feels it’s important for her to remember to look beyond her own lifetime.

A photo of a desert landscape. In the background, brown hills dotted with green shrbs rise toward the blue sky. In the foreground, flowers are in bloom. A row of low shrubs coverd in white flowers stretches away from the viewer toward a clump of short trees.

Climate News: Nature-Based Climate Solutions Address Climate Change and Support Pollinators

Habitat restoration can contribute to countering climate change. Native trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses increase carbon sequestration, while also providing habitat for butterflies and bees.

In the middle of the photo is the purple flower of a tiny wild pansy. The pansy is growing the decaying stems of bushes that were cut down.

The Return of Wild Pansies at Polk City Cemetery

In Iowa, volunteers are working hard to restore an area of old prairie. They are seeing signs that the grassland is recovering, including the regrowth of pale coneflowers and wild pansies.

A clear plastic container of blueberries on a kitchen counter beside a breakfast bowl containing cereal and fruit. The blueberry container has the black-and-white Bee Better Certified label

Helping Bees by Growing a Better Food System

Consumer demand ultimately pulls along our entire food supply. Demand for a particular product will trickle all the way back to the farms where it comes from. Bee Better Certified allows consumers to change the food system to help bees through the power of their wallets.

A brown cardboard box has been opened to show the contents, bundles of newly printed books. The books are a gray-green color, with a photograph that shows two yellow and orange bumble bees on a pink flower.

Reflections on Two Decades of Pollinator Conservation

The Xerces Society was one of the first organizations to focus on protecting pollinators. Over the last two decades, it has been at the forefront of the pollinator conservation movement and is recognized as a trusted source of science-based advice and information.

The long coiled body of a brown centipede shines against the dark soil

The Actual Earth of Earth Week

Soils support the most biologically rich animal communities on earth, outside of our oceans. A single cubic foot of tallgrass prairie soil may contain billions of organisms, and more species diversity than the entire above-ground Amazon rainforest. Yet we think little of this life.

A patch of pollinator habitat on a farm in Iowa is a mass of yellow, white, and purple flowers

Walmart Commits to Bee Better Certified and Other Measures for Pollinators

Walmart has committed to help address the pollinator crisis by asking its fresh produce suppliers around the world who supply its U.S. stores to phase out use of highly toxic and long-lived insecticides. By 2025, all fresh produce suppliers to Walmart must be certified in one of ten different third party-verified sustainable farming standards, a list that includes Bee Better Certified.

This mix of wildflower seeds are many different shapes and shades of brown and gray, and some have tuts of pale hair

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – April 2021

In this edition, Hannah Mullally describes a project to create a pollinator habitat demonstration site in the unique conditions of northern Maine, Karin Jokela shares her experience and suggestions for designing conservation seed mixes in Minnesota, and Anna Murray gives a glimpse into habitat planning and monitoring in California.

Plant trays containing thousands of seedlings are laid out on the ground.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – December 2020

This edition focuses on work done across the country to support monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Jessa Kay Cruz describes how Xerces supports groups in California undertaking habitat creation projects, and Jennifer Hopwood presents a series of fact sheets about milkweeds, part of a nationwide project to provide information to roadside managers.

Three young men use shovels to help plant a new tree in the middle of a grove

Planning and Planting for the Future of Monarchs in California

Pismo State Beach is one of the most important overwintering sites for monarchs in California. It has regularly hosted over 10% of the entire western monarch population each winter. Xerces Society has partnered with California State Parks, Creekside Center for Earth Observation, and others to develop and implement a plan to restore and enhance the site’s ability to host monarchs.

The author, Héctor Ávila Villegas, stands beside a pollinator habitat strip full of pink, white, and yellow flowers

Conservación de Polinizadores en Aguascalientes, México

Over the last couple of years, Xerces Society staff have had the pleasure of supporting Héctor Ávila Villegas with his efforts to promote naturalized spaces that function as pollinator habitat and outreach in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico.

A man kneels beside a tray of wildflower seedlings, carefully removing each one in readiness for planting them.

Supporting Community Efforts to Create Monarch and Pollinator Habitat in California

Creating habitat in California is an essential step in recovering the monarch -- as well as to support the many other species of butterflies and bees in that state. Xerces worked with local native plant nurseries to create and distribute monarch and pollinator “habitat kits”, each with more than a thousand climate-smart, locally native plants -- enough to make a lasting impact for monarchs.

Pink blooms of prairie crocus contrast against the brown grass

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – August 6, 2020

This edition of our Pollinator Conservation Program Digest focuses on work being done by some of our farming partners: Stephanie Frischie reports on habitat projects done by farmers growing crops for Cheerios and Cameron Newell describes ways in which his work has changed due to the coronavirus.

The wild pansy is a tiny flower with pale purple petals

Discovery of a Rare Plant Through Remnant Prairie Restoration

Less than one-tenth of a percent of Iowa's native tallgrass prairie remains. The scraps that survive are valuable refuges for less-common plants and deserve thoughtful management.

A long line of people of diverse ages, genders, and races are all sporting bright yellow and black-striped bee outfits in an outdoor festival setting.

Evolution in Attitudes Leads to Greater Interest in Pollinator Conservation

Twenty years ago, being referred to as the “bee guy” wasn’t always positive. In contrast, today many people are keen to learn about what they can do to protect pollinators. We are proud to be part of the reason that the public has become more aware of, and engaged in, pollinator conservation.

On a sunny day with blue sky, five people stand talking together in the foreground of a beautiful landscape. Behind them is a pear orchard, and beyond is the snow-covered, triangular form of Mt. Hood.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest - January 2020

January's featured staff members have been working with growers in one of Oregon's major fruit-producing regions, and training conservation professionals to assess and improve habitat in Wisconsin.

In this hand-drawn/hand-painted image, a grove of trees is shown, with a cut stump and a dead monarch with tattered wings in the foreground.

The Vanishing Butterfly Groves of California

The latest research suggests that the damage and loss of overwintering habitat is one of the primary drivers of the decline of western monarchs. Together, we can make overwintering site protection and management a reality.

A monarch clings to the trunk of a tree in a dimly-lit landscape.

Thanksgiving Count Shows Western Monarchs Need Our Help More than Ever

The western monarch population remains at a critical level. With some luck and a lot of hard work, we have hope that we can save this incredible migration.

A line of colorful, flowering plants, including a bush with red blossoms in the foreground, recedes into the distance. Parallel to this line are rows of trees in an orchard.

Climate News Roundup: IPCC Lands Report

When most people think about climate change, they likely think of CO2 emissions from cars or factories. But the way land is used and managed has a significant impact on the climate.

In this close-up photo, a monarch perches atop a cluster of small, white and pink flowers. The image is so detailed, you can see the eye of the monarch, and the scales on its wings.

Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kits Designed to Support Imperiled Western Monarchs

These specially designed kits, geared towards large-scale projects, incorporate native milkweeds, nectar plants, and climate considerations.

This is a two-part image. On the left is a dry, arid, agricultural landscape with a lot of bare dirt. On the right is the same landscape, but with a flowering hedgerow that recedes into the distance, and a small, gray butterfly perched on a small, thin branch with flowers in the foreground.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – November 2019

As both a Pollinator Conservation Specialist and our Bee Better Certified Program Coordinator, Cameron Newell works to transform agricultural landscapes by providing pollinator habitat and support for beneficial insects.

Rugged mountains and pine trees, some reddish brown and some green, are shown in this Colorado landscape.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – September 2019

September’s featured staff members have been providing Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kits to select organizations in California, training Colorado Department of Transportation staff on roadside pollinator habitat, and attending the America’s Grasslands Conference, held this year in North Dakota.

An assortment of colors among a flowering hedgerow add life to an arid landscape.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – June 2019

June’s featured staff share their work with partners in large-scale agriculture in central Washington, family farms in Wisconsin, and a unique urban agriculture fellowship program in Virginia.

A monarch and a goldenrod soldier beetle share a pale purple thistle.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – May 2019

May’s featured staff share stories of building pollinator habitat that will also support monarchs—one project on a farm in Iowa, and the other in a park in Missouri.

A thick bed of bright green clover blooms with red and white flowers amid rows of almond trees.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – April 2019

April’s featured staff—all Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planners—are driving the adoption of cover cropping in California, guiding farmers to support pollinators in Maine, and teaching the importance of rangeland to pollinator conservation in North Dakota.

A western monarch rests on the side of a tree with furrowed bark.

New Year’s Count of Western Monarchs Confirms Decline, Trends Seen in Previous Years

Overall, the count data revealed an average decrease of 38% between the Thanksgiving and New Year’s counts.

A tractor and some other farm equipment in the background are dwarfed by blooming plants in the foreground of this photo of an arid agricultural area.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – January 2019

January’s featured staff have been working on establishing pollinator habitat in California’s Central Valley and helping farmers both navigate the ins and outs of the Endangered Species Act and provide restored habitat for native bees in Maine.

Prairie grasses and flowers are illuminated beautifully by low, golden sunlight.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – December 2018

December’s featured staff hail from Iowa and Minnesota, and have been making significant impacts in their respective states by educating farmers and other members of the public, helping to restore and build new habitat, and pushing for policies that support pollinators and other beneficial insects.

A fuzzy bee with yellow and black stripes, as well as a rust-colored patch on its back, holds tightly to a pink flower.

Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – November 2018

November’s featured staff hail from Minnesota, Indiana, and California, and have been conducting training and outreach events, helping General Mills to implement their plan to plant 3,300 acres of pollinator habitat, and monitoring farm habitat plantings in the San Joaquin Valley.

The beautiful Adonis blue butterfly perches on the end of a stalk of grass. Its wings are positioned such that the ventral and dorsal sides are shown. The inner wing is bright blue, and the outside is speckled.

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