Pollinator Decline and How to Help

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Reasons why pollinators are declining:

  1. Loss of floral resources, habitat destruction
  2. Loss of nesting sites, habitat destruction
  3. Habitat fragmentation- broken up into small, isolated patches
  4. Pesticides kill pollinators
  5. Agricultural practices- herbicides eliminate flowering weeds and wildflowers around agricultural field edges; soil fumigation kills ground nesting pollinators
  6. Land use practices- towns and states use herbicides and/or mow the sides of the roads, eliminate floral resources and nesting sites
  7. Recreational land practices- huge expanses of monoculture lawn grass, elimination of flowering meadows, hedgerows
  8. Light pollution- street lights affect nocturnal pollinators (moths, fireflies)

 

Pollinator friendly practices:

  1. Use organic methods
  2. Plant for succession of bloom- a minimum of three types of plants in bloom every month
  3. Plant each variety in large blocks
  4. Connect habitats together with pollinator strips
  5. Leave some areas wild: avoid over-manicuring your landscape
  6. Avoid mowing every part of your yard- convert open areas to meadows with lots of flowers to increase foraging habitat- designated pollinator meadows
  7. Leave some areas bare to attract ground nesters
  8. Allow clover and other weeds into your lawn so your lawn also becomes pollinator friendly
  9. Encourage your town to convert roadside areas to non-mown, non-sprayed pollinator habitats
  10. Encourage your local parks and schools to install habitat gardens
  11. Leave stems of plants up in the winter so cavity nesting bees have a place to live
  12. Leave snags (dangling branches) and dead wood in place if not dangerous for cavity nesting bees

 

In an effort to provide horticultural information, these educational documents are written by Nancy DuBrule-Clemente and are the property of Natureworks Horticultural Services, LLC.  You are granted permission to print/photocopy this educational information free of charge as long as you clearly show that these are Natureworks documents.