Pollinator Garden Wheel Unveiled in Conjunction with National Pollinators Week

June 21, 2007 -- The National Research Council has developed a tool called the “Pollinator Garden Wheel” to raise awareness and help home gardeners make their yards pollinator-friendly. The tool has been released to coincide with National Pollinators Week, which recognizes the importance of pollinators to ecosystem health and agriculture in the U.S. and encourages efforts to increase awareness and support for protecting and sustaining pollinators.

Playing a critical role in moving pollen from one flower to another so that plant fertilization can occur, pollinators are necessary for the production of most fruits and vegetables we eat and many crops on which livestock rely. Most pollinators are insects such as flies, beetles, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, and bees; birds and bats are also pollinators

Recent attention on pollinators has focused on the mysterious disappearance of a large number of honeybees from colonies in the U.S., a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder. However, honeybees are not the only pollinators in trouble. Many species of butterflies, moths, birds, and bats are also in retreat.

Last year the National Research Council reported on the decline of some pollinator populations in the report Status of Pollinators in North America. It recommends increased efforts to monitor their status and more research on the sustainable management of these important species.

• Status of Pollinators in North America
• Academies’ Interactive “Pollinator Garden Wheel”

• The Pollinator Partnership