The White House released its long-awaited “National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators” today, which outlines the Administration’s plan to pursue improved pollinator health through a mix of research, public outreach, federal land management and public-private partnerships. Among the activities that the strategy calls for are promoting pollinator issues through the Smithsonian Institute; increasing habitat through landscaping at federal facilities, and on public rights of way, USDA conservation land and at EPA cleanup sites; and by making available seed mixes of pollinator-friendly plants.

The three overarching goals of the National Pollinator Health Strategy are to:

• Reduce honey bee colony losses during winter (overwintering mortality) to no more than 15% within 10 years, considered a sustainable level.
• Increase Eastern monarch butterfly populations to 225 million butterflies by year 2020 occupying an area of approximately 15 acres (6 hectares) in the overwintering grounds in Mexico, through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships

• Restore or enhance seven million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years through Federal actions and public/private partnerships

While the report attributes declining pollinator populations to “a complex set of interacting stressors,” it does call for the EPA to take action on pesticides, neonicotinoids in particular, including prioritizing the registration review of certain chemicals and developing a pollinator risk assessment to be implemented by the end of 2016. About a third of US soybean acreage in 2014 was planted with neonicotinoid-treated seeds, usually imidacloprid or thiamethoxam.

The Strategy also advances ambitious Federal commitments to increase and improve habitat for pollinators, both directly through the large variety of facilities and acreages of land managed by the Federal government, and indirectly through the leadership role that Federal agencies can play in interactions with states, localities, the private sector, and citizens. These actions range from planting pollinator gardens and improving land management practices at Federal facilities, to advancing the availability and use of pollinator-friendly seed mixes in land management, restoration, and rehabilitation actions nationwide.

The entire National Pollinator Health Strategy can be found by clicking here.