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Guiding Principles for Prioritizing Pollinator Habitat
The following guiding principles can be used to help prioritize and map restoration opportunities for pollinators in areas ranging in scale from campus landscapes to areas across larger watersheds.
1)Prioritize Species
Identify priority pollinator species for habitat protection and restoration can be an important fist step for conservation efforts. State or federal agency staff, or non-profit organizations focusing on pollinator conservation may be able to provide information about what species should be prioritized in different geographic areas. For priority species review current and historical range maps and recent records to determine important areas for planting and management; also identify key habitat needs of each species. The species that are prioritized for a projects can influence the placement and size of habitat as well as plant species that are selected for projects.
2)Assess Landscape Conditions
A wide range of landscape conditions can influence decision making for pollinator habitat and assessments can be done through a combination of reviewing aerial images and site visits. Key considerations include existing pollinator populations, existing plant communities and other habitat features, waterways that can be buffered, areas with a high potential for future management, invasive species risks, and pesticide risks. Rapid habitat and ecological health assessments included in this document can be used to help with decision making for landscapes but also for assessing the benefits of projects after they are established.
3)Build on Existing Intact Habitat
Identify existing areas of high-quality habitat such as habitat complexes and corridors, or patches of high floral richness and abundance that may also contain host plants for butterflies and moths. These are areas that should be protected, buffered and further connected when possible. Habitat along waterways are areas that can support a wide range of beneficial insects and are important locations for establishing and expanding corridors.
Compared to isolated habits, habitat corridors and complexes can have added benefits of bring more resistant to stressors, supporting a wide range of wildlife species, and are areas that can build collaboration between partners and landowners. These areas also provide “safe zones” and natural passageways for pollinators, as well as nesting and forage sites. BWSR is working to identify “Pollinator Pathways” across Minnesota to help demonstrate how a wide range of partners can collaborate to support species that are in decline. The following resource provide information about the importance of habitat corridors: https://conservationcorridor.org/the-science-of-corridors/.
4)Establish Nodes of Habitat
While habitat complexes and corridors are important, a matrix of habitat scattered across landscapes is also needed and can benefit a wide range of species and provide an opportunity for all residents to play a role in supporting pollinators. Butterflies, bees and many other insects generally do not require large areas. Some bees have a relatively small flight distance and benefit from having food sources within short distances of nesting sites which can be provided by matrix of habitat scattered across landscapes. This is definitely true in urban landscapes where many residents have established habitat. In rural landscapes research is showing that new nodes of habitat are most beneficial in areas that have around 10%-20% with pollinator beneficial habitat. This is because more intact landscapes won’t benefit as much from new nodes and areas without existing habitat may have many landscape stressors such as harsh urban conditions or pesticides near agricultural fields, and these areas may require many plantings to build a suitable habitat structure for pollinators. It is important to note that with enough plantings areas can become important locations for pollinators.
5)Build on Momentum
Identify areas where there are opportunities to build on current conservation efforts and where plantings will have long-term care and protection. In many cases these may be in existing public lands such as parks or schools where there are crews that manage landscapes.
6)Minimize Pesticide Exposure
When establishing pollinator plots in conservation plantings or urban landscapes it is important to locate them away from agricultural fields where herbicides are applied. Look for areas away from pesticide and fungicide use, as well as areas that lack widespread disturbances that may impact pollinators (at least 200 feet).
7)Identify Ways to Benefit A Wide Range of Species
When working to benefit species that are most at risk there are also opportunities to benefit a wide range of species. Account for the varied dispersal and foraging ranges of different pollinator species. Including long flyers moving a mile or more (butterflies), mid-range flyers moving around 500 meters (bumble bees, large bees), and short flyers moving around 100 meters (small bees, leafhoppers, lacewings, etc.). Short flyers may benefit from several pollinator plots/nodes in closer proximity while long flyers may benefit from single but larger plots. A wide range of insects can also be benefitted by planting seed mixes that have species from a wide range of plant families and functional groups.
So essentially, a combination of larger corridors and nodes of habitat maybe be beneficial within one projects location, as well as the use of different seed mixes and a wide range of plant species.
8)Engage Residents and New Partners - Recognize that every landowner can play a role in building corridors and nodes and that there are opportunities for planting in a wide range of conditions in urban and rural areas. Building partnerships of community members, agencies, non-profit organizations and industry partners can play an important role in building habitat and habitat connectivity across landscapes.
Site Assessment Forms
BWSR has developed pollinator and ecological health assessment forms for rural and urban landscapes. The following is a link to the assessment forms.
Urban and Rural Habitat Assessment Forms (pdf)