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protecting pollinators

protecting pollinators

Community campaign to stop mosquito spraying to protect wildlife
These Bee-Safe Communities are Welcoming Back Pollinators
Monarch caterpillars on milkweed
Looking for Pollinator-Safe Plants? Talk to Your Nursery
Sweat bee on coneflower in home garden
Tips for Pollinator-Safe Gardening
Bumble bee on California poppy flower
Top 7 Reasons to Stop Pesticide Use at Home
violets blooming in a yard
No Mow May: A Gateway to Better Landscape Management for Bees
long-horned bee on cosmo flower
Allies in Conservation: Nurseries Practicing Pollinator-Safe Pest Management
Person sit in front of garden shed in late winter, with dead leaves and brush around their feet
For Pollinators' Sakes, Don’t Spring into Garden Cleanup Too Soon!
West coast lady, Vanessa annabella. Photo: Chris Halsch, University of Nevada-Reno
Grassroots Conservation is the Key to Saving Imperiled Western Butterflies
A bee foraging on a yellow and purple flower in a suburban garden. The bee is golden-brown and hairy, and has very long antennae. The flower has many narrow, purple petals that radiate out from the yellow center. The flower is growing in a flower border beside a house. Behind can be seen a blue garage door and a white sedan parked on the driveway.
Four Steps You can Take to Bring Back the Pollinators
Shrubs and a pile of leaves stand near a pollinator habitat sign. (Photo: Matthew Shepherd / Xerces Society)
Midwinter Tasks for Pollinator Gardening
Penstemon flowers at the Hood River NRCS field office demonstration garden ( Emily Huth/ NRCS).
Saving Seeds Can Be an Easy Way to Grow Pollinator Habitat
Year 3 hedgerow with fruiting Toyon (aka Christmas Holly) (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and flowering Coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) in Colusa, CA, November 2021. Credit: Anna Murray/ Xerces Society
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest - December 2021
A roadside sign that is a bright green color with the message “MOSQUITO SPRAYING KILLS BEES” in black text. A silver-colored car and a bus drive past in the background.
Bee City USA Affiliate Spotlight: Decatur, GA
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
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”
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
A group of young people standing a classroom holding wooden insect houses that they have been building. Some people have blonde hair, some brown, and some black. A few of the group are wearing head scarfs. The insect houses are square frames with a pointed roof.
Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA Affiliate Spotlight: University of Michigan-Dearborn
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
A young burrowing owl runs across the ground with a green grasshopper in its bill. The owls feathers are fuffy. They are brown on its back and top of heard and white on its belly and chest. Its face is brown with horizontal stripes of white across its chin and forehead and it has striking yellow eyes that have a black center.
Protecting Grassland Ecosystems from Insecticides
A photo that shows a cross section of soil on the side of a pit. The soil is dark brown and crumbling into lumps. The upper part of the photo shows the pale brown straw of the crop growing in the field, and the scuffed brown boots of a farmer.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – August 2021
A view inside a large cage made of very fine, white-colored netting. The netting is held up by wooden posts and sags between the supports. Through the center of the photo is a black band, where two sheets of netting are being stitched together. The netting is protecting blueberry bushes, which have green leaves.
Local Pest Challenges Spur Local Solutions in New Hampshire
A group of people wearing wide-brimmed hats stand with their backs to the camera, watching a man standing waist-deep in grass and flowers swings a white butterfly net.
Using Community Science to Conserve Bumble Bees: From Small Beginnings to a Continent-Wide Effort
Two moths with pink and brown wings and very hairy, pale brown bodies drink nectar from a yellow flower
For the Love of Moths
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
Wildflowers grow beside a quite rural road. The most abundant plant has small gray-green leaves that grow on horizontal branches and a clyster of long, narrow spikes of dark purple flowers at the top of the stem
Pollinators Find a Home on Roadsides
Gently undulating rangeland stretches to the horizon. The silver-grey leaves of plants show between the green grass. In the distance a cluster of farm buildings sit in the shelter of trees. Brown and black cattle graze.
Great Plains Rangelands Are Important Habitat for Pollinators
several tall spikes of pink checkermallow flowers stand among a scattering of golden-orange flowers of California poppy in this garden. In the foreground, a bumble bee with a yellow head forages on a checkermallow
Pollinator Protection Starts at Home—and can Spread Faster than Weeds!
A small group of young men and women work with shovels and other tools to care for a hedgerow
Xerces Society and the NRCS: 17 Years of Conservation Partnership
A pollinator garden full of yellow-and-red and pink flowers. In the center is a sign that says "Pollinator Garden" and has colorful illustrations of flowers, butterflies, and bees.
Building Resilient Communities: Reflecting on a Year of Challenge and Opportunity for Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA
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
Four people stand behind a table laden with trays of small plants. They are holding plants and "pollinator habitat" signs ready for a day of hard work.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – June 2021
A super close-up photo of a bee shows every detail of its body. The bee is dark, almost black, and very shiny, with pale brown hairs on it's head and thorax. Its legs have patches of long, dense hairs in which it can carry pollen.
Wetlands as Pollinator Habitat
A cow and her calf, both black, lie in the middle of sagebrush and grasses, with the rangeland stretching away to the horizon.
Planned Grasshopper Sprays Threaten Monarchs, Bees, Beneficial Insects, and Birds Across Western Rangelands
A bottle of vinegar lies on a table beside a bowl full of slices of peach and cherry tomatoes
Bee Better Certified: One Acre at a Time
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
Beneath a blue sky, the clear waters of a river sparkle as it flows past pine trees
WARNING: this blog post may entice you to partake in “virtual democracy”
A small, dark-colored bee gathers nectar from the middle of a yellow flower
To Protect Pollinators, Talk to Your Nursery
A yellow and black bumble bee drinks nectar from pale pink flowers of milkweed
California Court Case: Protection of Insects under the California Endangered Species Act
A Xerces blue butterfly resting on the green stems of deerweed
Xerces Turns Fifty: A Half Century of Ground-Breaking Conservation
Children cluster around a tabletop display as the author talks with families about pollinators and conservation.
Arrancando la Primera Iniciativa de Conservación de Polinizadores para el Centro de México
Pale pink and purple ball-shaped flower heads of common milkweed stand out against the green foliage of this habitat strip beside a farm field
Ethanol Plant Causes Severe Pesticide Contamination in Nebraska
Plant trays containing thousands of seedlings are laid out on the ground.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – December 2020
A man and a woman carrying an insect net walk through grass looking for bumble bees
The Power of The Pinery: Six Years of Bumble Bee Community Science at Ontario’s Pinery Provincial Park
A yellow and black bumble bee drinks nectar from pale pink flowers of milkweed
Court Decision Undermines the State of California’s Ability to Protect Insects Under its Endangered Species Act
The author, Héctor Ávila Villegas, stands beside a pollinator habitat strip full of pink, white, and yellow flowers
Conservación de Polinizadores en Aguascalientes, México
A pale brown bee with very long antennae forages on a sunflower
Pollinators Take Priority as Xerces Expands Work in New Mexico
A landscape with a mass of yellow-flowered goldenrod in the foreground with dark green conifer forest behind
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest - November 2020
A black and yellow bumble bee on a bright pink flower
It Takes (More Than) a Village
Two women in grey and red shirts stand in front of a colorful mural that shows flowers and insects at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – October 8, 2020
A small aircraft flies close to the ground as it sprays insecticides on rangeland
A small aircraft flies close to the ground as it sprays insecticides on rangeland
Home on the Range: Grasshoppers and Insecticides on Western Rangelands
In the center of a large pink-colored thistle bloom is a black and yellow bumble bee.
Standing Up for Native Thistles
Three people, with clipboards in hand, inspect a hedgerow of young shrubs growing beside a dusty farm track.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – September 3, 2020
Although partially obscured by the wings, the distinctive rusty-colored patch is just visible on the yellow band on the back of this rusty patched bumble bee
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fails to Designate Critical Habitat for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
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
A group of farmers stand between a crop field and flowering meadow listening to a presenter speaking about how to plan habitat for insects.
A group of farmers stand between a crop field and flowering meadow listening to a presenter speaking about how to plan habitat for insects.
On-farm habitat for beneficial insects provides multiple benefits
Pink blooms of prairie crocus contrast against the brown grass
Pink blooms of prairie crocus contrast against the brown grass
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – August 6, 2020
A mass of yellow coneflowers fill the front garden of this house. The color contrasts with the blue walls.
This flower head of purple coneflower has been pulled apart to reveal a brown-and-white striped caterpillar than was feeding inside.
How to Identify and Respond to Pests at Home
The hole in the end of this broken flower stem is filled with neatly cut pieces of leaf, a sure sign that a leafcutter bee has made a nest.
The hole in the end of this broken flower stem is filled with neatly cut pieces of leaf, a sure sign that a leafcutter bee has made a nest.
Moving Beyond Flowers: Natural Nesting Habitat for Bees and other Insects
An aerial view looking down on an almond orchard. At the bottom of the photo, the greenery of the hedgerow planted as habitat for bees contrasts with the straight rows of almond trees above.
An aerial view looking down on an almond orchard. At the bottom of the photo, the greenery of the hedgerow planted as habitat for bees contrasts with the straight rows of almond trees above.
Bee Better Certified: Protecting Bees and Providing a Level Playing Field for Farmers and the Companies that Support Them
A group of three college students with clipboards watch carefully for bees beside a flower-rich garden.
Celebrating a Year of Enacting Positive Change: Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA
This graphic depicts a Checklist of Actions to Promote Pollinators in Yards, Gardens, and Parks; a score sheet for your site; a plant list; and a phone displaying a photo of some flowering habitat in front of a small house.
How to Maximize Benefits to Pollinators in Cities and Towns
The front page of the guide Supporting Ecologically Sound Mosquito Management: Protecting Pollinators from Pesticides is shown, with some large text blocks and an image of a field in which different insects, including butterflies and bees, are shown in a landscape.
The front page of the guide Supporting Ecologically Sound Mosquito Management: Protecting Pollinators from Pesticides is shown, with some large text blocks and an image of a field in which different insects, including butterflies and bees, are shown in a landscape.
Start Now To Prevent Mosquito-Borne Disease and Keep Our Pollinators Safe
A fuzzy, primarily yellow, bee flies towards a purple sprig of flowers. The bee and the flowers are in sharp focus. The background, made up of purples and reds, is blurred.
This Earth Week, Let's Bring Communities Together to Protect Pollinators
The cover of Dave Goulson's book, The Garden Jungle or Gardening to Save the Planet is shown. It has hand-painted illustrations of flowers and insects.
Earth Week Reading: Gardening to Save the Planet
A small house with light paint and bright blue trim is dwarfed by the lush garden in the foreground, featuring flowers of a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
12 Climate Actions for Earth Week
A fuzzy, round-bodied, orange bee perches on a pale purple flower.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest - February 2020
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
A fuzzy bee with black and gray stripes gathers pollen in the middle of a purple flower.
Support Pollinator Conservation by Reducing or Eliminating Pesticide Use in Urban Environments
A kid stands in a verdant landscape with blue sky. He is putting something into his mouth as he stands near a hedgerow with fruit and flowers on it.
Tu BiShvat, the New Year for Trees, Provides a Chance to Support Invertebrates
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
A grassy field ringed by trees bursts with color. It is populated by many different flower species.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – December 2019
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
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
A tall woman with short, white hair who is holding a Xerces pollinator habitat sign stands next to a woman with dark hair and a dark down coat, in the entrance to a garden.
Bee City USA Begins a New Chapter
Colorful blooms of blue, red, and yellow blanket the rows between newly-planted saplings.
Starting from Scratch: New Hampshire Farm Dives into Conservation Biological Control
In this landscape image, rows of green, leafy trees are on the left, and on the right are blossoming cover crops of various colors. There is also blue sky and puffy clouds to round out this idyllic scene.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – October 2019
Dead bees lay scattered on asphalt. A pencil is laid alongside them to help with estimates.
To Protect Pollinators We Must Address All Risk Factors
Rugged mountains and pine trees, some reddish brown and some green, are shown in this Colorado landscape.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – September 2019
A beautiful, colorful garden bursts with a variety of blooms. In the background, a partially obscured, brightly-painted house stands. In the foreground is a Xerces Society pollinator habitat sign.
Nature Close to Home: Reimagining Gardens to Support Invertebrates
Rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) in a vial.
Working Together in Iowa to Find the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
People are crouched, planting native species in a new beetle bank in Iowa.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – August 2019
A diagram shows various interacting stressors that can impact bees and other pollinators, including fungicides.
New Xerces Fact Sheet Takes a Deeper Look at Fungicides and Their Effects on Pollinators
A plastic clamshell of blueberries bears the Bee Better Certified seal, as well as a label that says "Oregon grown" and the California Giant label.
Arriving in Stores: Bee Better Certified Blueberries
An assortment of colors among a flowering hedgerow add life to an arid landscape.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – June 2019
A pollinator habitat sign sits proudly among many bright blooms.
Let’s Make Every Week Pollinator Week!
A beautiful, bright orange monarch perches atop bright pink milkweed blossoms.
Working to Conserve Monarchs from Coast to Coast
A fuzzy bee with big, shiny eyes peers out of a hole in bare dirt.
A fuzzy bee with big, shiny eyes peers out of a hole in bare dirt.
Remember the Ground Nesting Bees when You Make Your Patch of Land Pollinator-Friendly
Bright yellow flowers reach upwards in this low-angle shot.
Managing Invertebrate-Friendly Gardens
A bumble bee holds tightly to a cluster of purple flowers.
Introducing Xerces’ Newest Community Science Project: Nebraska Bumble Bee Atlas
Two women walk through a garden with abundant, colorful flowers.
Bee City USA: Galvanizing Communities to Reverse Pollinator Decline
A Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat sign stands proudly among a blossoming garden.
Bring Back the Pollinators During National Pollinator Week
A monarch and a goldenrod soldier beetle share a pale purple thistle.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – May 2019
A group of people gather around a patch of blooming pollinator plants.
Reflecting on a Multi-Year Conservation Biological Control Project
A thick bed of bright green clover blooms with red and white flowers amid rows of almond trees.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – April 2019
A fuzzy, gray and black bee collects pollen from a purple flower.
Bee City USA Mobilizes Communities to Support Imperiled Pollinators—Here’s How to Join
Red-orange poppies pepper a verdant hillside.
Bee Better Certified Engages the Almond Industry
A globe, in the darkness of space, with invertebrates on all the continents and in the oceans.
Pledge to Bring Back the Pollinators—on Earth Day and Every Day
A field of sunflowers bordering a field.
Bee Better Certified: An Evolving Standard
Landscaping outside an office building includes purple coneflower and goldenrod.
Mitigating the Effects of Heat on Urban Pollinators
A group of smiling people poses with their shovels and other implements by a flowering hedgerow.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – February 2019
Children tend plantings in a raised bed.
Cedaroak Park Primary School Gardens Offer Learning Opportunities
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
Long-horned bee collecting pollen from a bright yellow and red plains coreopsis.
Pollinators and the 2018 Farm Bill
Prairie grasses and flowers are illuminated beautifully by low, golden sunlight.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – December 2018
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
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.
Ups and Downs of English Chalk Grasslands
Purple asters bloom against a green background.
Fall Garden Tips to Benefit Bumble Bees All Year
Closeup of beautiful, layered pink and white petals.
Pollinator Conservation Program Digest – October 2018
A pollen-covered bee sits deep inside a bright-orange squash flower.
Can Robobees Solve the Pollination Crisis?
Klickitat Canyon Vineyard - in the foreground are brightly colored blooms of arrowleaf balsamroot and lupine, and in the background are rows of vines.
From the Field: A Visit to Klickitat Canyon Vineyard
Hundreds of dead bees lay across a single parking space in this photo of the Wilsonville bee kill.
Bumble Bee Die-Off Under Investigation in Virginia
Bee City USA
Xerces Society + Bee City USA = A Match Made in Pollinator Heaven
A redbud blooms alongside dogwood trees.
From the Field: Trees for Bees
wild quinine
Weird and Wonderful Plants for Pollinators: Wild Quinine
common buckeye
Weird and Wonderful Plants for Pollinators: Rattlesnake Master
geum triflorum
Weird and Wonderful Plants for Pollinators: Prairie Smoke
Leafcutter bee on a red and yellow blanketflower.
10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
A graphic has a circle with a line through it superimposed over tropical milkweed, with its characteristic red and yellow flowers.
Tropical Milkweed—a No-Grow
overwintering monarchs
Second New Year's Count Supports Monarchs' Movement Between Sites
A red dragonfly perches atop a green leaf in a garden. A bit of blurred siding is visible in the background, indicating it is close to a house.
A red dragonfly perches atop a green leaf in a garden. A bit of blurred siding is visible in the background, indicating it is close to a house.
How Our Gardening Choices Affect the Health of Our Waterways
The Sran Family Orchards logo
Sran Family Orchards: The First Bee Better Certified Farm
A close cluster of bright yellow blooms brightens a yard.
Picking Plants for Pollinators: The Cultivar Conundrum
aromatic aster
Planning Your Plantings for Climate Resiliency
A queen bumble bee looks for a spot within a thick leaf cover.
Leave the Leaves!
bombus impatiens
Community Science Data Aids in Expert Testimony on Regulation of Commercially Bred Bumble Bees
soleil gaylord
Telluride Teen Takes Action Helping Pollinators
milkweed seed pod
pod
Harvesting Milkweed Seed: a Pod and a Plan
monarch on thistle
Bringing Back Native Thistles
moth and bulb
To Protect Moths—Turn Out the Lights!
field of milkweed
1.3 Billion Stems of Milkweed Needed in Midwest to Recover Monarch Population
Group photo of pollinator team staff gathered in Minnesota for a training event
Xerces’ Pollinator Team Grows, Again
A Xerces Society pollinator habitat sign stands proudly in a lush garden.
Protecting Pollinators One Community at a Time
pollinator garden with a pollinator habitat sign
Are you up for the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge?
Numerous bamboo tubes stand upright. Some have hollow ends, and some have mud filling the opening. A small bee perches atop one of them.
5 Ways to Increase Nesting Habitat for Native Bees
A field bursting with bright yellow flowers is shown.
Conservation Comes Home
bombus affinis
Rusty Patched Bumble Bee: The First Bee in the Continental U.S. to be Protected Under the Endangered Species Act
2016 neonic report
New Report: How Neonicotinoids Can Kill Bees
bee on sunflower
Shortfalls of EPA’s Preliminary Risk Assessment for Imidacloprid
crystal skipper
The Crystal Skipper: North Carolina’s Newest Butterfly Species
bee on flower
Study Finds High Levels of Pesticides in Wild Bees Foraging in Farmland
govenrment island seeding
Xerces Goes Island Hopping for Bees
bombus occidentalis
Climate Change Driving, Not the Only Passenger; Bumble Bee Conservation in Context
vaughan garden
A Mother-and-Son Perspective on a Pollinator Garden
spring wildflowers
Wildflowers, Harbingers of Spring