Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Animal Products: honey

• Animals: bees

• Fruits: apples, berries (blueberries), berries (cranberries), cherries

• Nuts: almonds

• Pollinators: habitat, honey bees, other

• Vegetables: cucurbits

Target Pests

Practices

• Crop Production: pollination/pollinator health/habitat

• Sustainable Communities: public participation, public policy

Pollinators face many threats to their health, including exposure to pesticides. Concerns about pollinator health are in the public consciousness, but progress in resolving the underlying issues has been limited. In an effort to resolve these issues, the President’s Pollinator Health Task Force created a National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators in 2015. This national strategy initiated the development of state and tribal Managed Pollinator Protection Plans (MP3s).

The MP3s aim to reduce pollinator exposure to pesticides through integrated pest management and best practice recommendations. Main obstacles to progress on these plans include a lack of national-level direction and collaboration, driving each state or tribal group to work independently. This lack of communication related to the MP3s among states further hinders work to protect pollinators. The outcome of this siloed process has been redundancy, extra work, and missed opportunities for shared resources and collaboration.

To make progress on the implementation of state plans, we established a working group to increase collaboration and share resources between states. The Managed Pollinator Protection Plans Working Group addresses the pollinator health crisis by facilitating a coordinated effort for people working on managed pollinator protection plans to learn from each other, share resources, and eliminate redundant efforts. Monthly conference calls allow working group members to share progress on their state or tribal MP3s, ask for guidance, and share resources.

Our working group was established with funding from the North Central IPM Center in 2020, and we received funding again in 2021. Our group has grown to 25 members from 16 states. We hold virtual meetings monthly that are well attended and provide opportunities for group members to learn from each other and pollinator experts. As a group, we have worked together to create pollinator protection educational materials for pesticide applicators, including a PowerPoint presentation and an online course.

In 2022, we will continue meeting monthly to learn from each other and outside experts, develop educational materials together, and support each other’s efforts. We plan to expand our reach by promoting our existing educational resources and making them available to a broader audience. Our group will also develop new presentations and videos to be used in a wide range of workshop platforms and formats, and we will create pollinator protection materials for specific audience groups of pesticide applicators and pesticide users.

The Managed Pollinator Protection Plans Working Group supports MP3s and increases education about pollinators and pesticides to pesticide applicators, growers, beekeepers, the public, and other stakeholders. Through supporting the development and implementation of MP3s, our working group anticipates increased use of integrated pest management strategies and reduced pesticide exposure to pollinators.

1. Continue coordinating monthly, national online meetings for our working group

2. Continue promoting our group’s presentation and online course on pollinator protection to a broad audience of pesticide applicators

3. Create videos and presentations on pollinator protection for specific user groups of pesticides