Rural Roots

Pollinator-friendly plants for restoration

Pollinators are essential to the survival and health of natural ecosystems but are declining worldwide. Because of this, there is urgent need to restore pollinators and the services they provide. One way to address this need is to use pollinator-friendly plants in revegetation projects (roadsides, fire rehabilitation, etc.), but land managers lack information about which plants are best for pollinators. RMRS (US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station) and partners at Montana State University are assessing the pollinator-friendliness of native plant species that are available for revegetation in Montana to produce a guide identifying the best species mixes to support the greatest number of species and abundance of pollinators. We found that plant species vary widely in the abundance, diversity, and community of pollinator species that each attract. However, several plant species are superstars that are visited by most pollinator species across a diversity of habitats. These focal-plant species can form a backbone in seed mixes to successfully restore diverse and stable plant and pollinator communities.

This webinar is part of our Science You Can Use series of land-management focused webinars. The sessions are half presentation, half discussion and Q&A.

Connection Information

March 10, 2021, 9-10 am PST, 10-11am MT

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Meeting ID: 161 0453 0612

Password: USFS1905!

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1-669-254-5252 US (San Jose)

1-646-828-7666 US (New York)