SEATTLE — National Pollinator Week is underway and serves as a reminder for the important creatures around us.
The annual awareness week shines a light on a very concerning trend. Pollinators are dying because their food and homes are disappearing, diseases have increased, and rising temperatures and even natural disasters are affecting their ability to survive.
The conservation of pollinators is an important global responsibility because without our pollinators our food supply and surrounding landscapes would collapse.
Woodland Park Zoo has many ways to honor Pollinator Week. The nonprofit features many pollinator gardens and even a pollinator patio just outside of the massive indoor butterfly garden.
Bees capture most of the headlines when it comes to pollination but the zoo is also home to other pollinators that serve a big role in sustaining a healthy ecosystem.
“Butterflies, hummingbirds, bats and even certain beetles are pollinators,” says Craig Newberry with Woodland Park Zoo.
“We like to educate through immersing our guests into an environment that thrives because of our pollinators,” says Newberry.
The Zoo is also honoring Pride Month with a special education program. The Zoo hosted a Pride & Pollinators event where guests from Lambert House learned about pollinators in an inclusive and welcoming environment. Lambert House offers LGBTQ youth over 30 different annual and ongoing programs, activities, resources and services.
More than 75% of flowering plants require pollination and Woodland Park Zoo provides guests with information on how they can help the decline of some species and provide a more hospitable environment for pollinators.
Research shows local native pollinators prefer local native plants so preparing your yard to provide the right shelter and conditions is a good place to start and Woodland Park Zoo has information and resources to help you get started.
According to the USDA, Pollinators play a critical role in producing more than 100 crops grown in the United States. Honey bee pollination alone adds more than $18 billion in value to agricultural crops annually.