Many native bees and all moths and butterflies need native plants to complete their life cycles. Most plants need native pollinators to produce seed and fruit. The Pollination Pathway Climate Adaptation Initiative will enhance plant-pollinator networks in the Lower Columbia sub-region by working toward restoration of the pollination systems within these diverse native plant communities. The five-year project will increase abundance and connectivity of important native wildflowers through seed collection, growing and plantings, and enhance habitat for native insect pollinators through the preservation of nest sites and the provision of host plants for specialist bees, butterflies and moths. This project will enhance over 250 hectares of riparian camas meadow ecosystems and over 400 hectares of upland showy milkweed meadow ecosystems at seven sites.
“The pollination of flowering plants by animals is a critical ecosystem service. The decline of pollinators has many causes, including the decline of our natural areas and thriving native plant populations,” said Valerie Huff, Restoration Botanist with the Kootenay Native Plant Society. “Camas and milkweed are anchor plants for pollinators in the region’s ecosystem, but there are many other plants included in the Pollination Pathway initiative that will support many species of endangered and at-risk pollinators.”
