Pollinators in Parks

You can help!
Spot a pollinator in a national park? The Pollinator Tracker project helps contribute to our knowledge of species diversity by photo-documenting pollinators using the iNaturalist app. Also you can help identify pollinators observed in parks by using the Identify tool in iNaturalist.
Showing results 1-10 of 117

  • A New Way to Study Bees

    • Locations: Minute Man National Historical Park
    • Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Northeast Temperate Inventory & Monitoring Network
    A small green bee foraging on a white and yellow daisy.

    The National Park Service (NPS) is on a mission to deepen its understanding of the bees living in parks. Traditional survey methods require significant time, specialized expertise, and the collection of specimens from their natural habitats for species-level identification. With limited bee specialists available and a growing need for efficient, cost-effective methods, the NPS sought an alternative approach.

  • 3 Parks 3 Stories: The Power of Partnership with the Southern California Research Learning Center

    • Locations: Cabrillo National Monument, Channel Islands National Park, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
    • Offices: Southern California Research Learning Center
    A cluster of several bright yellow flowers on a rocky hillside overlooking the ocean.

    In this issue of 3Parks3Stories, we would like to share three stories of successful conservation projects in the Mediterranean parks that were reliant upon partnerships between the NPS and one or more dedicated collaborators. In these stories, we hope you see the mutual benefits of these relationships and the value they bring in the effort to protect, preserve, and understand our national legacy.

  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park

    Restoring Butterfly Habitat at Terra Vista

    • Locations: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
    Yellow butterfly with a lime green eye hangs on a stalk with many small, white flowers.

    Citizen scientists monitoring butterflies at the Terra Vista Natural Study Area provide important data for the habitat restoration team.

  • Glacier National Park

    Waterton-Glacier BioBlitz! A Fun-filled Day of Hands-on-Science

    • Locations: Glacier National Park
    A butterfly rests on a pencil that a citizen scientist is using to record butterfly species.

    During the summer of 2017, the CCRLC hosted two BioBlitz events: the Waterton-Glacier Mushroom BioBlitz and the Waterton-Glacier Butterfly BioBlitz. Nearly 150 participants joined in helping resource managers gather data on the diverse array of fungus and butterfly species found in Glacier National Park.

  • Funding Granted for Much-needed Monarch Conservation Efforts in Marin County

    • Locations: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
    Close up photo of an adult monarch butterfly perched on green vegetation.

    Working within the structure of the One Tamalpais Collaborative, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy received $400,000 in funding through the California Wildlife Conservation Board’s pollinator rescue program to invest in protection of monarch butterflies in Marin County.

  • Manassas National Battlefield Park

    Managing a Right-of-Way Helped This Park Restore Its Grasslands

    • Locations: Manassas National Battlefield Park
    Kelly Ewing walks through a grassland under a power line at Manassas National Battlefield Park

    An unexpected and often forgotten place becomes a vital part of one park’s bid to restore a critically imperiled landscape

  • We Found Passion and Purpose in New Pollinator Studies

    • Locations: Dinosaur National Monument, Minute Man National Historical Park
    • Offices: Inventory and Monitoring Division
    Side-by-side photos of two young women, each holding monarch butterflies and smiling at the camera.

    Pollinators are in danger, and national parks want to help. Two early-career scientists piloted research projects to find out how they could.

  • Monarch Butterfly - Featured Creature

    • Locations: Crater Lake National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve, Redwood National and State Parks, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
    Large, orange butterfly with thick black wing veins, perched on a flower.

    Curious about the monarch butterfly in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our quarterly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.

  • Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area

    Protecting Our Pollinators

    • Locations: Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
    A black and yellow bee in flight with a blurred background of greenery

    Pollinators make life as we know it possible. Yet, their populations are in decline. To take action, the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park works with researchers to track pollinator populations.

  • Pollinators in peril? A multipark approach to evaluating bee communities in habitats vulnerable to effects from climate change

    • Locations: Assateague Island National Seashore, Big Thicket National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Channel Islands National Park,
    Southeastern polyester bee, Colletes titusensis.

    Can you name five bees in your park? Ten? Twenty? Will they all be there 50 years from now? We know that pollinators are key to maintaining healthy ecosystems—from managed almond orchards to wild mountain meadows. We have heard about dramatic population declines of the agricultural workhorse, the honey bee. Yet what do we really know about the remarkable diversity and resilience of native bees in our national parks?

Tags: pollinators pollinator butterflies butterfly pollinator research pollination hummingbird hummingbirds chocolate midge monarch butterfly monarch butterflies bumblebees bumble bee bees bee monarch
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* Paperwork Reduction and Privacy Act Statement: The National Park Service is authorized by 16 U.S.C. 1a-7 to collect this information. This information collection will provide data for the National Park Service to better understand which species occur on its lands and where those species occur. Response to this request is voluntary. No action may be taken against you for refusing to supply the information requested. The permanent data will be anonymous. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

BURDEN ESTIMATE: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 5 minutes per response. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this form to NPS Information Collection Clearance Officer (NPS_ICR@nps.gov)

OMB Control Number: 1024-0275

Last updated: April 13, 2023

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