Photo:  City of Fridley

From the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources • June 3, 2022

The Environmental Quality Board and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources invite the public to attend a June 15 event to celebrate and learn more about Minnesota pollinators.

The free event, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Spring Lake Park Preserve near Hastings, will highlight educators and students who have helped improve pollinator habitat at their schools. Members of the State Interagency Pollinator Protection Team and other groups will host informational booths to share what they are doing to help pollinators in the state.

The public can participate in fun pollinator-related activities for all ages, like a bee survey and pollinator art. The event is a prelude to International Pollinator Week, which calls attention to challenges faced by bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Dakota County commissioners Kathleen A. Gaylord and Mike Slavik will deliver remarks at 1 p.m. to urge Minnesotans to help protect our state’s environment and economy by helping pollinators.

“The DNR helps pollinators by conducting pollinator surveys, sharing expertise and by actively restoring and enhancing pollinator habitat on public lands,” Strommen said. “We want to encourage Minnesotans to help pollinators too by taking simple actions such as  planting nectar-rich native plants.”

People can take these simple steps help Minnesota’s pollinators:

• Plant a variety of native flowering plants.
• Choose plants that provide pollen and nectar in the spring, summer and fall.
• Use pesticides judiciously and only when necessary. Follow an integrated pest management approach to pest control.
• Become a community scientist and help researchers collect data about pollinators and their habitat.
• Learn more and find resources for helping pollinators through the Lawns to Legumes (link is external) program.
• Enlist friends and neighbors in helping pollinators.

“Pollinators are in trouble because of habitat loss, exposure to pesticides, diseases and pathogens, and our changing climate,” Environmental Quality Board Executive Director Katie Pratt said. “EQB is helping state agencies work together on this issue, but we need all Minnesotans to take action for pollinator health.”

Additional pollinator resources are available on the DNR website and the EQB website