Pollinator Protection Plans - A Discussion with Becca Tucker, Program Manager, Great River Greening

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Becca TuckerDo you want to help Minnesota pollinators survive? Our pollinators face challenges on many fronts, including habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, diseases and parasites. We talked to Becca Tucker, Program Manager for Great River Greening about community engagement to help our pollinators – there’s a lot we can each do. Keep reading. 

Q:  You’re presenting at the  Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) Midwest Great Lakes chapter conference on "Building lasting stewardship of pollinator habitats on restoration projects through community engagement." Congratulations! What is a pollinator protection stewardship plan?

A:  Current urban corridors are largely undeveloped habitat for pollinators, often with turf or degraded woodlands in parks or on school properties. These vegetation patches provide opportunities for municipalities and educational institutions to develop low-maintenance, high-reward ecological areas by planting native blooming flowers and grasses that are used by pollinators like monarch butterflies and bumble bees. This benefits both the pollinator community and the neighborhoods that these parks, schools, and public spaces serve.

This “pollinator protection stewardship plan” engages the community in both the creation of these planting areas as well as the hands-on monitoring of the pollinator populations in order to understand how pollinators interact with these restored spaces. Through this work, the public learns why the native restoration is being done, what the pollinator insects are, how pollinators are crucial to the health of the overall nature of an area, and what they as individuals can do in that particular public space (or in their own spaces) to help pollinators. They then have the knowledge to steward these areas going forward, observing the areas into the future, and hopefully being involved in keeping the work going forward to the benefit of both the people and the wildlife of the area.

June 2022 in Spring Lake Regional Park – Photo Credit, Amy Kilgore

Q:  What can we do in Minneapolis to help save pollinators?

A:  Folks can participate in funded programs such as “Lawns to Legumes” or get information directly from the City of Minneapolis and support public efforts in community gardens through volunteer planting efforts there. The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bid Sanctuary is a great place to continue learning about native plants as well. If folks have their own space, they could plant flowers that bees use, create nesting habitat by keeping some areas “natural” - or make observations of pollinators through public websites such as iNaturalist or Bumble Bee Watch. The University of Minnesota Bee Lab has great information here: https://beelab.umn.edu/actions-help-bees.

2017 Bee Survey – Photo Credit, Bruce Nimmer

Photo Credit, Sara Nelson 

Bee Survey photo by Ben Somberg

Q:  So many programs! Please give us your advice for community engagement around pollinator protection. 

A:  Great River Greening is hosting a number of public events for people to directly be engaged in this work. Information can be found on our website: https://www.greatrivergreening.org/events. Please do join us.

Q:  How can we follow Great River Greening news?

A: You can learn more about Great River Greening, read our blog, or sign up for our newsletter at www.greatrivergreening.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. I also want to point out that we gratefully receive funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund from the Minnesota State Treasury.