This month, dozens of conservation and gardening organizations joined together to form the National Pollinator Garden Network and launch a new nationwide campaign – the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. Designed to accelerate growing efforts across America, the Network is launching the Challenge in support of President Barack Obama’s call to action to reverse the decline of pollinating insects, such as honey bees and native bees, as well as monarch butterflies.

The National Pollinator Garden Network is challenging the nation to reach the goal of one million additional pollinator gardens across the US by the end of 2016. The Network will work to provide resources for individuals, community groups, government agencies and the garden industry to create more pollinator habitat through sustainable gardening practices and conservation efforts.

“Horticulture has a huge opportunity to be part of the solution to the threats facing pollinators, and we look forward to working together to meet the challenge,” said Michael Geary, president and CEO of AmericanHort, a partner in the Network.

As noted in President Obama’s 2014 Presidential Memorandum on Pollinator Health and recently released National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators, federal action combined with private sector partnerships and strong citizen engagement can restore pollinator populations to healthy levels. Pollinator gardens provide one way to reverse that decline by offering food, water, cover and places to raise young for honey bees, native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.

Any individual can contribute by planting for pollinators and joining this effort. Every habitat of every size counts, from window boxes and garden plots to farm borders, golf courses, school gardens, corporate and university campuses. Everywhere we live, work, play and worship can, with small improvements, offer essential food and shelter for pollinators.

“Pollinator Partnership has worked for pollinator health for nearly two decades, and we are thrilled to see this seminal moment arrive; thanks to the National Pollinator Garden Network, an extraordinary collaboration has been formed to support every American in providing the help that pollinators desperately need in every landscape,” said Laurie Davies Adams, executive director of the Pollinator Partnership. “What a profound and important opportunity this is - we are coming together as a nation to share our landscapes with bees and butterflies; each of us can support the very creatures that support us every day.”

Learn more at www.millionpollinatorgardens.org and join the discussion on Twitter through the hashtag #PolliNation.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
Stingless wasps released in Boulder to target EAB
Top 10 landscape trends for this season
Businesses can enforce drug-free workplace policy, judges rule
Turning a passion for sustainability into a marketing benefit