Because of its renowned reputation, and the strength of its membership, National Garden Clubs has been invited to be an Inaugural Network Partner of the National Pollinator Garden Network, recently formed to help establish one million gardens to assist in restoring critical pollinator population recovery in the United States. Over the next two years, The Network will bring together the science and garden capabilities of industry with the outreach of nongovernmental organizations to empower a million private citizens and organizations to plant pollinator gardens nationwide.
Federal agencies have been directed to take steps to protect and restore pollinator populations due to recent declines in the number and distribution of pollinating insects causing significant concern among ecologists and agricultural interests. These declines include our managed bee population used in agricultural, native bees, monarch butterflies (suffering a decline of more than 90% over the past two decades), and many others. In addition to being important to natural ecosystems across our country, pollinators are critical to one third of our food production. While there may be many reasons for pollinator decline, experts agree that the overall loss in the amount and distribution of habitat and food plants is a critical contributor.
This is an unprecedented collaboration and members will be providing food and habitat for pollinators in our home gardens (can even be a container on a deck or a condo window planter), as well as through public garden projects, youth garden projects, nursing homes, botanical gardens, business areas, and government offices. Monetary awards will be available for member clubs, and the National Garden Clubs plan to coordinate grants to clubs that will plant pollinator gardens with our youth. It is SO important to teach our youth how to take care of our land, our wildlife, our food supply for the future. Who will teach them if we don’t?
Register your pollinator habitat! Visit http://millionpollinatorgardens.org/ to buzz over to the Pollinator Partnership Website where you can create an account, register your pollinator site and see an interactive map of sites that have been registered. The registry is located at http://pollinator.org/mpgcmap/. It’s free and easy. Explore other pollinator friendly SHARE landscapes all over the globe. Be a part of the movement now.
