Celebrate Pollinator Week And #NurtureNative
It’s Pollinator Week! We’re celebrating all week long with a range of activities that includes a Pollinator Power Party on Thursday evening and a Mimosas and Monarch event on Sunday.
Why? Simply put, our native pollinators – our bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, wasps, flies, birds, and bats – are in trouble and need our help:
- According to analysis prepared by the Center for Biological Diversity, it’s estimated that more than 1/2 of North America’s native bee species are declining in number; nearly 25% of our native bee species are imperiled and at increased risk of extinction.
- According to lists prepared by the Imperiled Butterflies of Florida Working Group, over 25% of our state’s native butterflies are imperiled.
- According to the National Audubon Society, of the 12-15 species of hummingbirds that regularly nest in the United States, four are climate-threatened or climate endangered. Hummingbirds pollinate many native wildflowers.
- Over 300 species of fruit (including mangoes and guavas, both of which are grown commercially in Florida) are pollinated by native bats. Unfortunately, of the 47 bat species native to the United States, 12 are listed as either threatened or endangered. Two of the endangered species (Florida bonneted bat and the Gray bat) are native to Florida.
Pollinators are critical to food production. And yet, pesticides, alien species, pathogens, habitat loss, climate change and more are all conspiring against them.
Won’t you please take action to help them? Learn more about what’s impacting our pollinators by participating in one of our events this week. Create a safe haven that’s free of chemicals and invasive plants to help them. Spread the word to your neighbors. Ask them to help extend your safe haven to a safe neighborhood.
#NutureNative and make the world a better place.