POLLINATORS GO TO WASHINGTON
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| Pollinator Conservation Reaches the White House |
In March 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama created a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. Soon after, a honey bee hive was installed. This spring, a flower border (including milkweed for monarch butterflies) was added to support the garden's pollinators, both honey bees and native bees. And just last month, pollinators got inside White House, all the way to the Oval Office: President Obama issued a memorandum establishing a multi-agency Pollinator Health Task Force that is tasked with creating a National Pollinator Health Strategy. For pollinators, this is huge, placing their conservation squarely at the center of federal environmental policy.
Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces' executive director, participated in a multi-stakeholder meeting with White House staff to brief them on the current state of pollinator conservation efforts. Each attendee was asked to identify activities, policies, or other initiatives federal agencies could enact with existing resources to address pollinator health; potential public-private partnerships that could be formed to address these issues; and significant commitments that his or her organization would be interested in making. Scott provided this information in written comments submitted during the meeting.
The Presidential Memorandum -- issued June 20, during 2014 National Pollinator Week -- includes many of the key recommendations that we presented. It directs agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture to further expand support for bee conservation and to "substantially increase both the acreage and forage value of pollinator habitat in the Department's conservation programs" as well as provide technical assistance in planting "the most suitable pollinator-friendly habitats." It also requires the Environmental Protection Agency to "assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bee and other pollinator health and take action, as appropriate, to protect pollinators."
Looking back at where we were 20 years ago, people were just beginning understand the importance of bees and starting to conserve them, but pollinator advocates were few. Xerces was one of the first organizations to address this issue as a founding member of the Forgotten Pollinator Campaign. For the President to issue a memorandum and push agencies to do more is a remarkable act and shows how far we have come.
But it is just the latest step forward for pollinator conservation, and much needs to be done to ensure the Memorandum's appropriate implementation. The Xerces Society will continue to work with federal agencies to protect pollinators and restore habitat, advocate for reasonable policies to protect these animals, and provide easy-to-understand information that people can use to make change in their own lives. Working together, we can make a real difference for pollinators and for all of us that rely on them.
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