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The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign

Kim Fellows

Earlier this year, in October, the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) held its 16th annual conference, and I was lucky to be able to attend it. NAPPC is a growing, collaborative body of more than 160 diverse partners, including respected scientists, researchers, conservationists, government officials and dedicated volunteers that is working to encourage the health of resident and migratory pollinators in North America. It does this by raising public awareness, promoting habitat conservation, encouraging partnerships with government and other organizations, and documenting policy and scientific research. Seeds of Diversity is one of NAPPC’s partners. The project is managed by the Pollinator Partnership, which is based in San Francisco, California, and focuses on pollinator research, advocacy, and policy. 

NAPPC’s annual conference is usually held in and around Washington, D.C, usually in collaboration with government departments. In previous years, the conference was hosted at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Farm Bureau, the Department of the Interior and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 2016, we gathered at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in Riverdale, Maryland.

What sets this conference apart is the fact that it is structured around NAPPC’s task forces. The task forces are cross discipline, short-term, project-oriented groupings designed to accomplish specific tasks. Each task force meets on both days of the conference to tease out at least one meaningful task that can be accomplished in the coming year, with the caveat that the work is voluntary. Task forces are fluid entities, created as needed to fulfill current gaps in the field, and dissolved once it has filled its mandate or clearly is no longer needed. This year, nine operational task forces met. These were Monarch Highway; Forage, Nutrition and Roadsides; Habitat Metrics and Monitoring; Pesticide Education, Rooftop Gardens and Urban Youth; Honey Bee Health; Vector-borne Diseases; Bombus Clean Stock Program; and Bee Friendly Farming.

In my first year attending the NAPPC conference, I met US farmer Paul Kaiser, who introduced me to the Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) program. BFF had been initiated just a few years prior by another non-profit organization in the United States. Pollination Canada loved the project, and we decided to bring it to Canada. Just a month and a half later, it was up and running, and today we have farmers across the country taking part in the program! You can find out more about the Bee Friendly Farming initiative in our May 2016 e-Bulletin.

For the past three years, I have been honoured to co-chair the Bee Friendly Farming task force. The task force has produced promotional material that includes a brochure and a bookmark, as well as a fabulous poster that I presented at the Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy Conference at Pennsylvania State University this past summer. This year, our goal is to increase membership in this important program, in both Canada and the United States.

You can explore NAPPC more on its website, and find out more about Pollinator Partnership’s resources and accomplishments.

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Kim Fellows is the outreach coordinator of Pollination Canada.

Photo: Kim Fellows of Pollination Canada and Tasha Guatney of Utah State University at the Bee Friendly Farming booth.

Thanks to the TD FEF Leadership Grant for making Pollination Canada’s attendance at the conference possible.

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