All abuzz and aflutter about Pollinator Week

Traditionally, the third week in June is recognized as Idaho Pollinator Week. The essential partnership between birds, bugs and birds and agriculture and government agencies is celebrated year-round by ITD, though. The week draws awareness to pollinators and spreads the word about how we can protect them.

The agency continually promotes awareness of pollinators and pollinator habitats, Statewide Vegetation Program Manager Cathy Ford said.

“Pollinator species such as birds and insects are increasingly recognized as essential partners to farmers and ranchers in producing much of our food supply. Because Idaho is so agriculturally dependent, that partnership is especially important in the Gem State,” Ford said.

Idaho is home to an abundance of insect pollinators central to the health of our environment. Beetles, flies, wasps, moths, butterflies — but especially bees — all contribute.

ITD is involved in several activities that promote pollinators/pollinator habitats, most notably the Operation Wildflower Program, where districts distribute native forbs to volunteer groups to seed along selected roadsides, rights of way, or slopes. The volunteer Adopt A Highway Program is another example, where groups clean litter from sections of roads, removing trash and making the area more desirable for bugs and bees to pollinate. In addition, ITD provides native seed mix prescriptions for re-vegetation activities following maintenance and construction projects.

Ford also said ITD recently entered into the Monarch CCAA (Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances) program. The Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group at the University of Illinois-Chicago led a national, multi-sector collaborative effort to develop a voluntary conservation agreement to provide habitat for the monarch butterfly. More than 40 organizations from across the energy and transportation sectors worked together to develop the CCAA that encourages landowners and land managers to adopt measures to create net conservation benefits for the monarch butterfly. The effort is unprecedented in terms of its cross-sector participation and geographic extent. The agreement spans the entire contiguous 48 states and is encompass millions of acres of habitat.

To date, there are 40 energy sectors and 40 transportation agencies who applied for the Monarch CCAA and 66 Certificates of Inclusion issued! Ford said that ITD is among that group! More than 1.2M acres have been adopted. The adopted acres are lands dedicated to promoting habitat by reduced mowing and herbicide treatments, protection of native habitat and monarch host plants, and seeding acres that include a wide range of native plant species. Another way to look at it is the adopted acres are actual acres set aside for monarch habitat (reduced mowing and herbicide treatments, etc.).

The Pollinator Partnership celebrates National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior. ITD also takes part in partnership projects with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Idaho Fish & Game, and other state and federal agencies.

 In 2007, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week has now grown into an international celebration of the valuable services to our ecosystem provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles. Pollination also plays a vital role in the health of our national forests and grasslands, which provide forage, fish and wildlife, timber, water, mineral resources and recreational opportunities, as well as enhanced economic development opportunities for communities.