Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: native plants

• Animal Products: honey

• Animals: bees

• Community and Urban Pest Management: commercial

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

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

• Natural Areas: wildlife

• Nuts: almonds

• Pollinators: habitat, honey bees, other

• Vegetables: cucurbits

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: pesticide application timing, precision pesticide use, prevention

• Crop Production: beekeeping/honey, pollination/pollinator health/habitat

• Natural Resources/Environment: wildlife

• Sustainable Communities: public participation, public policy

Appreciation and concern for pollinators are in the public consciousness, but progress in improving pollinator health has been limited. In response to concerns about pollinator health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided guidance for states and tribes to develop managed pollinator protection plans (MP3s). The objective of these plans was to identify and implement ways to protect pollinators by reducing pollinator exposure to pesticides through integrated pest management (IPM) and best practice recommendations. The plans were designed to foster local strategies to promote pollinator health through communication, cooperation, and collaboration.

Progress made toward achieving steps in MP3s has faced challenges and has varied by state and tribe. A primary obstacle to progress on these plans is a lack of national-level direction and collaboration, resulting in each state or tribe working independently. To address this obstacle, our Managed Pollinator Protection Plans Working Group was formally established in March 2020 with funding received from the North Central IPM Center. This working group has addressed the pollinator health crisis by facilitating a coordinated effort for professionals working on MP3s to learn from each other, share resources, and eliminate redundant efforts.

Pollinator education for pesticide applicators fits within the MP3 strategies, as many MP3 action plans place heavy emphasis on training pesticide applicators on integrated pest management (IPM) and best management practices. On a national scale, there is a need for increased programming and resources about pollinator IPM for pesticide applicator training.

Our working group has had many accomplishments, including recruiting new members, maintaining monthly meetings, creating a nationally appropriate presentation about pollinators that can be used for education of pesticide applicators, producing a clearing house of shared resources, developing an online course about pollinators for pesticide applicators, and presenting our work in a symposium at an entomology conference to our colleagues. We plan to build on our previous accomplishments to achieve the following objectives:

1. Coordinate monthly online meetings for our national working group.
2. Share the working group’s resources and recruit new members at conferences.
3. Promote and adapt our group’s educational materials on pollinator protection to reach a broad audience of pesticide applicators.

By providing information about pollinator IPM to pesticide users, we expect to increase the understanding of topics related to MP3s and IPM. Pesticide applicators who adapt these suggested principles will reduce pesticide exposure to honey bees and other pollinators. Overall, we expect our project to lead to a greater adoption of IPM strategies, a reduction in pesticide use, and an increase in overall pollinator health.

Objective 1: Coordinate monthly online meetings for our national working group

Objective 2: Share the working group’s resources and recruit new members at conferences

Objective 3: Promote and adapt our group’s educational materials on pollinator protection to reach a broad audience of pesticide applicators