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The Importance of Pollinator Conservation
(NRCS image -- click to enlarge) |
Almost 80 percent of the world’s crop plants require pollination. Pollinators
include bees, birds, butterflies, beetles, mosquitoes, and bats. The annual
value of insect pollinated crops in the U.S. is estimated at $20 billion. New
language in the 2008 Farm Bill makes pollinators and their habitat a priority
for every USDA land manager and conservationist.
Crop pollination in the U.S. is overwhelmingly provided by bees. Recent research
has shown that wild native bees, which number more than 4,000 species in North
America, can contribute substantially to crop pollination on farms where their
habitat needs are met. Buffer areas along roads, field borders, fence lines, and
streams can provide high quality habitat to crop-pollinating native bees.
NRCS has joined more than 90 agencies and organizations in the
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
(NAPPC) that focuses on sharing pollinator conservation information and
protecting pollinators. Some resources that are available to assist you in
addressing pollinators in your conservation activities include NRCS documents
for pollinator conservation and enhancement accessible through PLANTS,
the Ecoregional Planting Guides
from the Pollinator Partnership, NAPPC’s
Pollinator Conservation Digital Library project, the Xerces Society and
their
(The following requires
Adobe Acrobat)
Farming for Bees publication,
NRCS
Ecological Sciences Division publications, and a soon to be released
NRCS Technical Note entitled
Using Farm Bill Programs for Pollinator Conservation.
Your contact is Mark Skinner, NRCS
National Botanist, at 225-775-6280. | | |