How You Can Help Pollinators

Want to bee good to pollinators at home and in your community? Make a difference and help the insects, birds and bats we need to feed our planet. Get involved in pollinator activities and initiatives where you live. Here are five simple and fun things you can do to help pollinators Invite your family and friends too! 

Be a citizen scientist

Take part in a citizen science project that focuses on pollinators and their host plants. Examples include Nature’s Notebook, Project Budburst, Monarch Watch and many others. Some of these programs take place at national wildlife refuges. Contact your local national wildlife refuge to get involved as a volunteer or as a member of their Friends group.

Include the kids

Pollinator projects are great learning opportunities for scout troops, school groups and other youth clubs. We have a guide for creating schoolyard habitat projects. Also, see tools and resources available for kids through the Pollinator Partnership to bring pollinators to schools from the elementary grades on up.

Explore some of the many free or inexpensive online apps and guides that can help in identifying butterflies, birds, beetles and more.

Plant a pollinator garden

Nearly every patch of green space can help sustain pollinators with nectar and pollen to eat. Why not tend a patch yourself? You don't need a large plot of land. If you don’t have a backyard, a balcony will do. Just add a pot of coneflowers or marigolds.

To attract a variety of pollinators, include a selection of plants native to your region. Pollinators need a variety of nectar and pollen sources. 

• Check field guides to find out which plants local caterpillars eat. 
• Search online to find pollinator-friendly plants for your area. 
• Contact your local or state native plant society or your local agricultural extension service for help. Your local native plant supplier or a resident horticulturalist may also be able to help answer questions.

Be on the lookout for pollinator nesting sites

Pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds need places to nest as well as plants to feed on.

Hummingbirds use plant materials such as mosses and lichen and even spider webs to build their tiny nests off the ground in trees and shrubs. Hummingbird nests are hard to spot because they are so small and very camouflaged as protection from other wildlife.

Many native bees are ground nesters and they need well-drained bare soil to create their homes called burrows. You can help by leaving a small patch of well-drained bare ground at the edge of your lawn for ground-nesting bees. These bees love areas that face south to get the most sun possible during the day and they don’t like to get drenched by sprinklers.

Watch a leafcutter bee carrying small pieces of leaves to build a nest.

Other native bees are cavity nesters and make their homes in dead wood or brush. You can help by leaving plant stems, fallen logs or stumps for bees, beetles and flies to use for nesting if it’s not a safety hazard. Allow some twigs and leaf litter to remain where they fall to provide overwinter shelter for many insect pollinators. Some bees will nest in artificial nesting sites and there are lots of videos and guides on the internet to show you how to build a “bee hotel.”

Avoid or limit pesticide use

Make pesticides your last option in battling weeds and crop and garden pests. Try these steps first:

• Take no action and accept some pest damage
• Wear garden gloves and hand-trim or remove pest-infested plants, weeds and insect pests
• Use mechanical controls such as machine tilling, aerating, cutting, or digging
• Cultivate healthy growing habits
  • Use clean weed-free and insect-free mulch
  • Create beneficial insect habitat
  • Rotate garden crops from year to year
  • Water the garden as needed, not on a schedule
  • Choose plants that have not been treated with pesticides
• Grow organically to encourage native pest predators such as lacewings and lady beetles to keep the pests in check
• Use integrated pest management on your land
• If you must use a pesticide, read recommendations on how to minimize the impacts of pesticides to pollinators before applying it