Pollinator Conservation

Native pollinators—bees, butterflies, moths, bats and birds—play a critical role in sustaining ecosystems and provide essential services to American agriculture (estimated at as much as $9 billion annually).

Yet pollinators are in trouble. More than 50 native bees are in documented decline, with nine critically imperiled, including the Franklin’s bumble bee. Another iconic North American pollinator—the monarch butterfly—is in severe decline, down from a billion monarchs 20 years ago to 35 million today. Research shows that native pollinators can be two to three times as effective at pollinating agricultural crops as non-native honeybees.

Native pollinators need native plants and natural landscapes to survive. The Wildflower Center helps by:

  • Creating pollinator habitats in urban planned landscapes such as at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas and the Mission Reach on the San Antonio River
  • Helping gardeners find thousands of plants that sustain bees and butterflies
  • Educating school groups, parents and children about native pollinators and the plants that they need
  • Supporting pollinators on our 279 acres in Austin
  • Providing sustainably grown native plants at plant sales for homeowners to create pollinator-friendly gardens
  • Conserving seeds of important pollinator plants for future use and research
DIG DEEPER

Support Monarchs Through Project Milkweed
Become a Milkweed Grower
Join the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
How Pollinators Help Cotton Farmers
Browse Pollinator-Friendly Plants by Region or Insect

LOCATION

Based at the Wildflower Center

PROJECT FEATURES

MEMBER:

National Pollinator Garden Network logo

Resources

Pollinator Plants by Region
Plants of Special Value to Beneficial Insects
Other Resources

FIND A PLANT

Discover the Native Plants of North America