Save our Pollinators

The US has lost over 50% of our managed honeybee colonies over the last 10 years due to chemical misuse, introduced and invasive plant and animal species, diseases and parasites. We, as an environmentally concerned organization, being aware of this disturbing problem, hope to promote ways that we, as NGC members, can help protect our threatened pollinators.

WHAT CAN WE DO to promote and protect pollinators?

WATCH FOR POLLINATORS: Get connected with nature. Take a walk, experience the landscape and look for pollinators, midday in sunny, planted areas. Install houses for bats and native bees, encouraging them to thrive.

CREATE a pollinator-friendly garden habitat

DESIGN your garden so that there is a continuous succession of plants flowering from spring through fall. Check for the species and cultivars best suited to your area and gradually replace lawns with flower beds.

PLANT NATIVE SPECIES that will thrive in your region, using plants that provide nectar for insects and hummingbirds and also food for larvae, such as milkweed for monarchs.

SUPPLY water for all wildlife.

REDUCE YOUR IMPACT: Reduce or eliminate your pesticide use, increase green spaces and minimize urbanization. Pollution and climate change affect pollinators, just as they affect people.

SPREAD THE WORD: Pollinators have enabled our diverse variety of plants to prosper and grow, creating an abundance of food for our hungry world, for thousands of years. Now, THEY need OUR help. Please help them by creating a pollinator- friendly environment, through conservation and education, ultimately establishing a global awareness of our fragile planet. Teach our children the importance of pollinators with fun facts, such as a tiny fly (“a midge”) no bigger than a pinhead is responsible for the world’s supply of chocolate!

Michelle Mensinger
NGC Endangered Species Chair
loveolife@comcast.net
603-434-7011