The problem: Many pollinator species are in decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticide use. climate change, and disease.
How we’re taking action: AdkAction empowers individuals and communities to plant for pollinators by providing resources, access to native plants. and educational opportunities to encourage hands-on pollinator conservation.
There are many threats to pollinators, including habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticide use, climate change, and disease. In 2011, AdkAction started working to increase awareness and habitats for monarch butterflies by designing and distributing milkweed seeds and informational brochures, and by sponsoring lectures and film showings. In 2016, AdkAction created the Adirondack Pollinator Project (APP) in order to expand its monarch butterfly education programming to include all pollinators. Our major partners are The Wild Center, Paul Smiths College, and Northern New York Audubon.
Our pollinator conservation work has included public lecturers by distinguished experts, free film programming, providing educational resources to area libraries, planting community-scale pollinator gardens around the Adirondacks, and encouraging community volunteers and homeowners to plant for pollinators. We give out thousands of free seed packets every year. Our Adirondack Pollinator Festival’s native plant sale supports residents in planning their pollinator gardens with a variety of neonic-free pollinator plants designed to provide a diversity of nectar and pollen sources for local bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds.
AdkAction’s annual Adirondack Pollinator Festival is a vibrant celebration of pollinator conservation, bringing together community members of all ages to learn, engage, and take action. Attendees explore educational crafts and activities, select pollinator-friendly plants for their gardens, and connect with experts on composting, soil health, and habitat creation. Guided walks through grasslands and resources from local conservation organizations provide additional opportunities to deepen understanding and foster stewardship. The thousands of plants distributed at the festival are nurtured in backyards across the Adirondacks, creating lasting habitats that support pollinators year after year. This collective effort inspires hope and drives positive change for the region’s pollinator populations.
Each year, we offer free Native Wildflower seed packets to anyone who lives within the Adirondack Park to help increase native pollinator habitat. Planting native wildflower seeds is a perfect springtime activity and a great opportunity to get outside with your family. Request seeds below.
Selecting Plants for Pollinators (Pollinator Partnership)
A regional guide for farmers, land managers, and gardeners in the Adirondacks and New England.
Pollinator Plants: Northeast Region (The Xerces Society: fact sheet)
Recommended native plants that are highly attractive to pollinators such as native bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds, and are well-suited for small-scale plantings in gardens, on business and school campuses, in urban greenspaces, and in farm field borders.
Native Plant Profiles and Lists (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: web site resource)
The Xerces Society has collaborated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to create plant lists that are attractive to native bees, bumble bees, honey bees, and other beneficial insects, as well as plant lists with value as nesting materials for native bees. These lists can be narrowed down with additional criteria such as state, soil moisture, bloom time, and sunlight requirements.
Regional Milkweed Guides A series of regional guides to the native milkweeds of North America, developed in cooperation with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Monarch Nectar Plant Guides While native milkweed is critical to support of monarch breeding, these regional guides were created to address a need for evidence-based, monarch-specific nectar plants throughout the U.S. These guides were developed in partnership with the Monarch Joint Venture and National Wildlife Federation and are geared toward gardeners and landscape designers but are also be useful for land managers who are implementing large-scale monarch restoration projects.
Pollinator-Friendly Plants for the Northeast United States (USDA-NRCS: web site resource)
An in-depth guide to pollinator-friendly plants of the Northeast United States.
Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat Installation Guides (The Xerces Society: conservation guides)
These regional guidelines provide in-depth practical guidance on how to install nectar and pollen habitat for bees in the form of wildflower meadow plantings or linear rows of native flowering shrubs.
New England Pollinator Habitat Installation Guide: Conservation Cover (Draft)
New England Pollinator Biology and Habitat (USDA-NRCS: technical note)
An extremely lengthy, in-depth guide to bee conservation in New England. The document includes an overview of native bee and honey bee biology, farm management practices that impact pollinators, a color photo guide to common bee genera, and list of regionally appropriate plants for habitat restoration efforts on pages 25-38.
Field Conservation Management of Native Leafcutting and Mason Osmia Bees (University of Maine: Extension fact sheet)
This document includes information on the natural history of tunnel nesting native bees and how to enhance forage resources and improve nesting sites.
Indigenous Bees and Wild Blueberry Pollination (Nova Scotia Agricultural College: fact sheet)
An overview of native bee blueberry pollinators in Nova Scotia.
Wild Pollinators of Eastern Apple Orchards (Second Edition)
Produced by Cornell University, Penn State University, The Xerces Society, Northeastern IPM Center, USDA Department of Agriculture, and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This book includes a photo guide to bees most important to apple production in the East, steps to conserving wild bee populations, plant recommendations to enhance habitat, summary of bee toxicities for commonly used orchard pesticides, and links to additional information.
Your pollinator garden may be certified and added to the Adirondack Pollinator Project Registry if you meet the following guidelines:
1. You have planted or allowed to flourish at least three species of perennial native flowering plants in your garden. (Ideally you will provide nectar sources that bloom sequentially or continuously during the season.)
2. You are committed to maintaining your garden without chemicals.
3. “Let it bee” each fall to provide overwintering habitat for pollinators – Leave your leaves where they fall, allow dried flower heads to stay standing, Let the grass grow tall and seed, and if you have fallen branches–build a brush pile and leave until spring.
If you meet these guidelines, you may request a free “Pollinators Welcome” yard sign here.
On June 24th, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the recommendations of the NYS Pollinator Task Force in the “New York State Pollinator Protection Plan.”
At the same time the plan was announced, AdkAction.org decided to expand it’s Monarch Project to include all pollinators, and the Adirondack Pollinator Project was born. Our project elements are based on the recommendations made by the highly-qualified pollinator task force to ensure that our efforts are fruitful. You can read the Pollinator Protection in it’s entirety here.
iNaturalist
Have you ever admired a flower and wondered what it was called or seen a butterfly and wished to know its name? iNaturalist will not only allow you to deepen your understanding of the flora and fauna you encounter, but will also help create a large poll of data that can aid in local and national conservation efforts.
> Download the app and learn more
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