53 Kelly Rourke – National Pollinator Week (in English)

Speaker 1: From the Oregon State University Extension Service, this is Pollination, a podcast that tells the stories of researchers, land managers, and concerned citizens making bold strides to improve the health of pollinators. I'm your host, Dr. Adoni Melopoulos, assistant professor in pollinator health in the Department of Horticulture. National Pollinator Week is a tremendous opportunity for pollinator enthusiasts to reach out to the public and tell them about the diversity of pollinators and the things that they do. And for the past 11 years, it has literally been the largest outreach event on pollinators in the United States. National Pollinator Week was started by Pollinator Partnership P2, and I thought this was a great opportunity with it being literally one month away to catch up with the National Pollinator Week manager, Kelly Rohr.

In this episode, Kelly really breaks it down for you. It's very easy to hold an event in your community, and she gives you some very practical ideas for hosting an engaging, successful event. This is also an opportunity to highlight some of the events that are happening here in Oregon, which you can view at the Pollinator Partnership website. They've got a map also at the Oregon Bee Project website.

Starting with a launch on June 16th at the Oregon Zoo and ending at the High Desert Museum and Bend on June 24th, with a whole lot of activities happening in between. So I hope you enjoy this rousing call to action episode of Pollination. Hi Kelly, and welcome to Pollination. Hi, thank you for having me. Now, National Pollinator Week is coming up into its 11th year.

Can you set it up a bit? Take us back, if you can, to that first National Pollinator Week. There was a lot going on with pollinators in 2006. Can you kind of just, how did National Pollinator get rolling? What were the circumstances behind it?

Speaker 2: Sure, yes. So yes, this is our 11th year. It's very exciting. Yes. So Pollinator Week was really in the works for a while before it got actually established as a national celebration and holiday. It was an idea that stemmed from our Pollinator Partnerships former director, Laurie Davies Adams, as well as Dr. Larry Stritch, who was the previous National Botanist at the U.S. Forest Service. So they really worked on formulating this idea together for a few years prior to 2006. And then in 2006, we initially got a resolution from the Senate and then a proclamation from the Secretary of Agriculture, thanks to Larry's connection at USDA. And then it was really put into fruition that year in 2006 as an actual national holiday.

It was modeled actually after National Wildflower Week. Oh, is it? Yes. And that is the first full week of May. So it's actually, as we're speaking, going on right now. And so we kind of took that as a model and went from there, picked a full week. So we actually do Pollinator Week Monday through Sunday, just in order to get a full weekend in there together.

It's easier for event coordination and things like that. And then also, I mean, in 2006, as you mentioned, it was a really big time for pollinators and pollinator issues coming into the limelight. In 2006, the National Academy of Sciences National Research published a book about the status of pollinators in North America. So that really, really started the conversation for pollinators, which kind of spurred and really gave a lot of support to having a national celebration. And then also, this was kind of the time when colony collapse disorder, CCD was really coming about and people were really starting to recognize, oh, bees are important and something might be happening to them.

Speaker 1: So coming, it's great the way that thinking about its origins, it had this like long gestation, people have been thinking about it for a while, but then you have these two things sort of coincide. Three things, the resolution at the Senate, the status of pollinators in the US. And then this really terrible situation that happens with honeybees sort of come together on that first year in 2006.

Right. So with that in mind, knowing that it was a real kind of concerted, well planned kind of thinking through years in sort of planning, what were some of the key messages that National Pollinator Week is hoping to raise? Because we're talking, this is really kind of reaching out to everybody. This is an opportunity for all of our organizations to get out and talk to people we don't regularly talk to.

Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. So Pollinator Week is all about raising awareness for the importance of pollinators. And it's just a time to celebrate these animals that provide so much in such critical services to not only humans and our food supply, but also ecosystems and biodiversity, many other functions.

So it really is in a whole, it's really to raise awareness and educate and celebrate. But during Pollinator Week, this is our time to really give people marching orders. So we do encourage people to engage in local and national efforts during the week of June. So this year it's June 18th through the 24th.

And it's a time to learn and educate. So in doing so and in promoting Pollinator Week, we do have a handful of really critical message that promote pollinators. Probably the first and most important one we do is to encourage people to plant for pollinators and provide nesting sites along with that. So we encourage people to know their landscape, soil, the native plants in their area. And also when you're maintaining your landscape, if you're lucky enough to have some habitat to provide, think about reducing your mowing and allowing some debris to build up for those native bees that love to nest in those types of plants. We also try to encourage people to reduce or eliminate these harmful chemicals that can be really detrimental to pollinators as insects, as animals. And we also encourage people to support local pollinators, beekeepers and farmers. You know, going to farmers markets, really engaging with the people that are working hand in hand with pollinators in your area.

It's really important to support. Generally, we always encourage people to conserve resources. This is obviously an environmental issue and a really easy thing to do is to reduce what you're using and be really conscious about what you're using. Pollinators are also negatively affected by climate change as we all are.

So that's something to keep in mind. You know, even taking small steps like walking to work or biking, that's going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which will then pretty much be better for anything on the planet. So pollinators are definitely included there. And lastly, we always encourage people to support organizations and advocacy groups that are working to protect pollinators, like pollinator partnership and many others that we work with through our North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, the National Pollinator Garden Network, and many, many others that are all working to support pollinators.

Speaker 1: Well, that's great. So it's a real combination of some very practical things that, you know, somebody can go to a National Pollinator Week event and really kind of walk away with some, you know, here's some things that I can do tomorrow or over the next year or the next few years, but also connecting people together. So connecting public to farmers and beekeepers, but also to these organizations, these service organizations that are, you know, doing a lot of work on the ground, already to, locally to do things for pollinators.

You know, but I just, I think it would be great to sort of at this point, talk a little bit about pollinator partnership. I mean, it's, it is a national organization and it really does. To pull something like this off requires an organization of this scope. Can you tell us a little bit about the broader scope of what you do?

Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, we partnership or P2 as we call ourselves sometimes. I like that. We are a North American focused organization and, you know, a lot of the things I just outlined above are really all in line with our mission, which is to promote the health of pollinators, which are critical to our food systems and ecosystems through conservation, education, and research. So pollinator partnership has over 30 programs working to promote all pollinators. So we work, you know, like I said with farmers, we have a strong monarch butterfly program. We work with honey bees and beekeepers and also native bees and other pollinators that maybe aren't so much in the front of people's minds, like, you know, bats and hummingbirds and mobs. We're really working to protect all pollinators. Our tagline is protect their lives, preserve ours. We really are always constantly striving to convey the importance of pollinators in humans' daily lives. And, you know, just to turn that light on for people to realize, wow, I'm way more connected to these animals than I realized. You know, if we can do that, that's, that's, we're doing our job. You've probably heard the phrase one in three bites of food we eat are a result of animal pollination.

And, you know, that's, that's astounding and not that many people actually realize that. So actually this year, one thing we do is we do an annual poster, which is, you know, primarily an educational piece, an awareness piece. And this year, our theme was all about how pollinators support healthy food systems and ecosystems by promoting biodiversity and also promoting biodiversity and agriculture. So this poster is really great. It shows, you know, some various foods native to North America and their seeds as well. And then the various pollinators that, you know, are incorporated there.

Speaker 1: It's a great poster. And it really, you know, hits home here in Oregon. We have such a diverse farm sector. There's over 200 different crops grown in the state, much like California. But, you know, the landscape is really, in some ways, it's a mutual partnership. The land management contributes to pollinator biodiversity.

But in at the same time, it's one of the reasons why those farms are so successful. It's a great combination. Your posters are always so stunning, too. I'm really, I was really excited to see it, which is on the website. We'll put a link on the show notes so that people can take a look at it.

Speaker 2: Yes, that would be great. Wonderful.

Speaker 1: Well, let's take a little break. I want to come back because I know we've got lots of events happening in the Pacific Northwest, and people are probably starting to gear up to thinking about what they're going to do this year it would be good to sort of cover that. One last thing I do want to say, though, I was yesterday, just yesterday, looking for material on Pollinator Partnerships website, which there's lots of like little tri-folds that are really accessible that if you have, I think we use one of the tri-folds here in Oregon for just helping the public understand that difference between stinging and sex. There's lots of things for, for example, if you're doing right-of-way management, there's lots of resources on your website for people to access for anything that has to do with Pollinator. Great educational resources, too. And maybe that's maybe how we'll we'll talk about in the next segment.

Some of the resources you already have that somebody can download and get some ideas for what to do. Sure. Okay, let's take a break. All right. Well, welcome back. National Pollinator Week has really grown over those 11 years.

And, you know, it's stunning. You can go to the website now and you can see these dots daily appear on the map of the United States about events. And we got a bunch of them planned out here in Oregon. And can you tell us about some of the events that the public might encounter and what really makes a great National Pollinator Week event?

Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely. There are, I think last year we had 250 events throughout America. Fantastic. So many events. You know, a lot of those are at the local level, you know, community groups, schools, libraries, doing things. But we also had some really exciting national efforts happen last year. The Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, and the CN Tower in Toronto were all lit up in celebration of pollinators last year. Whoa.

Yeah. So the Empire State Building was black and yellow, you know, stinging like a bee in the sky. It was amazing. It was really, really exciting. And that's actually the first time we've had a really big national recognition for National Pollinator Week. So that was really exciting. But also, like I said, over 200 local events throughout North America, these ranged from planting days or plant sales, mixers or parties where people would serve pollinated food or make a pollinated cocktail. Oh, what a good idea. Yep. Because honey is pretty much good at anything. And there's tons of berries and really great stuff that are pollinated. So that's always really fun.

Speaker 1: Can you put that on the website where the pollinator cocktails will be? Because I'll go there. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: We'll make sure you get the recipe. Yeah. And then, you know, people did other great things like, you know, nature walks where, you know, you get maybe a natural history expert that could point out some great native pollinator plants or pollinators themselves. We had a lot of people do beekeeping classes or BID classes as well for native bees. And just tons of other. You could go on and on. People get really creative and, you know, even doing something small can be really exciting. So this year, We do kind of some annual events each year for pollinator week. We host a congressional briefing in Washington, DC, which is we actually have a Congress has a pollinator protection caucus that is supported by Representative Jeff Denham of California and then Alice Hastings of Florida.

Speaker 1: Wait a second. There is a pollinator caucus.

Speaker 2: Yes. Really? Yes. For short, it's like a key key key or something like that and it's a pollinator protection caucus. I love it. Yes. And we actually for our annual conference get, I think over maybe 50 Senate and House representatives that all sign on as honorary hosts. So it's nice to see that it's actually people from both sides of the aisle in the government are actually really concerned about pollinators, which is great. So the congressional briefing is one great thing we do in DC.

Also this year, we're really excited. We're doing a film screening of a new documentary film about monarch butterflies called The Guardians. And so it's about monarch butterflies and their migration, but it's also about the local community in Mexico in their overwintering grounds and the people that work to really protect those forests and to repropagate the trees. And it's amazing. It's a really great film. I encourage everyone to check it out. It's called The Guardians. And with that, we're going to actually have after the film a little Q &A with monarch experts.

So that's really exciting. And actually anyone can host a film screening. You know, a local group can purchase a screening kit online and you get posters and the DVD and even discussion questions that you can use to facilitate the event.

Speaker 1: So I'm sure people are going to take you up on that. So we'll get a link on the show notes just so that people can find that. Sure. But you know, the other thing I did want to sort of pick up that you talked about was that policy, you know, this is for the public, but also for policymakers. You have this really great record of getting all 50 states to sign on and have their governors proclaim National Pollinator Week. Yes.

Speaker 2: Yes. So yes, we do solicit proclamations from each governor and then also from the secretary of agriculture and the secretary of interior. And then we've even so that's been the past three years we've been consistent with getting all 50. And even last year we started getting a lot of, you know, mayors of different cities.

And even we got Puerto Rico last year, some provincial government officials from Canada have been getting involved. So it's really fantastic. Yeah, which is great. And then also this year in terms of events or things people can get involved in, we're doing a pollinator week t-shirt campaign as well. So we did this last year. It was really, we're doing it again this year. They're available now and all the proceeds go to pollinator, pollinator protection work.

Speaker 1: That is great. Okay. So t-shirts and people can get the t- I saw the t-shirt online. It's really great design. Yeah. Okay. So there's, okay. Let's say you don't have the Empire State Building in McMinnville or over in Klamath Falls. And so what makes, let's say you just got your farmers market table and you've, you booked it months in advance, you're sitting there ready to go. What are some of the things that work really well when you've got this stream of people curious about what is going on there and how do you kind of get these main points that you talked about earlier? You kind of raise these really practical steps that somebody can then walk away and implement. Right.

Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. So we work really hard to create a lot of different resources that can help people in doing just that and getting involved, um, you know, showing how they're connected to pollinators and showing others and teaching others how, you know, everyone is connected to pollinators. So, um, we have tons of resources on our website at pollinator.org. And we actually this year came up with a pretty comprehensive toolkit for pollinators.

Oh, great. So this is, you know, a four or five page document that kind of gives you a layout of, you know, different activity ideas. It gives you links to graphics that we've created as well as copy for use on social media. So you can really just take that plug in what you're doing or where you are and you're set to do a nice social media post, which is great. We encourage everyone to use hashtag pollinator week.

That's a really great way to get connected with people that you don't even know and become a member of a big thread of pollinator week social media activity, which is really fun. We have tons of guides, whether they're ecoregional planting guides where you can get lists of native plants for your area, or we have guides for land managers, technical guides. We also have probably our biggest resource are our brochures. We've got over 15 brochures that range from topics of, you know, safe pesticide use to not being afraid of being stung by bees, about protecting monarchs, about protecting bumblebees, tons of different ones. We even have ones for different religious affiliation groups.

Oh, great. Because that's a really strong community group that, you know, are really active. We've got tons of different brochures. We also have books.

We have bumblebee identification guides, both for the West and the Eastern United States. And we also have a great VBasics book that resorts it. It's kind of the basics of the big V groups and tells, you know, what they're all about and where you might find them. And that's really the, you know, spark of interest to get people to want to learn more. We also, I mean, we are happy to help out anyone that is, you know, interested in doing an event, but maybe not have the tools or may just not know where to start. So anyone is welcome to email info at pollinator.org. And we're happy to help you. We encourage people to start planning early. Yeah.

And, you know, we're just over a month out and, you know, these things do take time if you need to secure a space or secure materials. And also the map you were talking about on our website at pollinator.org. We encourage people to check that out because there might be some really cool events happening in your area that you can collaborate with or just attend. And we hope we want people to have fun with us.

This is, you know, all it is a celebration. So, you know, we want people to take the resources we've had, just, you know, connect with their community and connect with the pollinator's in your area. Yeah.

Speaker 1: I think that's really good. And, you know, the one thing, the experience that we've had this year in Oregon, I know they have, you know, the kickoff event at the Oregon Zoo, which is just a couple of days before on the 16th of June. It really was a matter of bringing in all the organizations, the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Oregon Flora is going to be there, Departments of Forestry and Agriculture. They all have pollinator programming and you may have somebody in your community, Fish and Wildlife Service, all the great work that they do with Butterfly Conservation. They're in the communities already and they have people there who are reaching out and, you know, maybe even, you know, if there's a pin on the map in your beekeeping organization, just giving the guys a call and say, listen, I'd love to be part of that farmers market stall. We can help. That's a great suggestion.

So Coos Bay, Astoria, Hermiston, La Grande, we're looking at you. All right. No, that's, this is really good. So I think, you know, that's, you know, it sounds like if you're a community group and you want to get, you're listening to this and you want to get involved with National Pollinator Week, it's not that hard.

You just kind of like organize a film screening and you can go to the National Pollinator Week website and you can like drop a pin on the map. It's that easy. Yeah.

Yeah. And in Oregon as well, for those of you who are in the state, we do have some resources available to you as well. So if you have not already contacted us through GenHolt, we can get some stuff to you. I think a lot of the communities are getting bee display boxes and things like that. So please reach out, get your pin on the map and then people will come.

If you build it, people will come. Okay, that's great. Well, let's take a break and I want to come back and let's talk a little bit about you want to ask you specific questions. We've got some questions for you. All right. Welcome back.

Here we go. We got these questions we ask all our guests. The first one is, do you have a book about pollinators that's really inspirational to you or you really want people to know about?

Speaker 2: Yes, I do. There are many that I love. I recently, a co-worker gave me the bees in your backyard. Oh, yeah. And this is a guide to North American bees by Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger-Carol. And I love this book. I love just, I take it to all my events that I do with me. People are always so thrilled to look at all the pictures and just the diversity of bees that we have in our backyards.

I even take it into my backyard and literally sit there and try and I want to see what, you know, what's there. The it's a really interesting read. It's not dry or boring, like a textbook at all.

Speaker 1: No, it's hilarious. The writing is so good.

Speaker 2: Really fun. And the pictures are gorgeous. So that's that's probably my favorite at the moment.

Speaker 1: You know, and it really connects well with, you know, your efforts in National Pollinary Week, because it is about kind of breaking down those barriers. I think this book is really good at sort of like the intimidation of like native betaxonomy is kind of like shattered with like the easy, the really kind of playful writing and the images and the kind of colors. It really does break down those walls.

I think it's an excellent book. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So the next question I have for you, great suggestion, by the way. I also do the same thing.

I think a lot of people carry that book around and it's a real first introduction to a lot of people. Yeah. So the next question I have for you is, is there a tool for the kind of work that you do with pollinators that is your go-to tool? Like if you were on a desert island, this is the tool that you must have.

Speaker 2: Yes, there is. So the tool that I use the most and I encourage others to use are pollinator partnerships, Eco-Regional planting guides.

Speaker 1: Oh, they're so good. Yes.

Speaker 2: Yes. So we have, they are Eco-Regional. So they are split up by the Baileys Eco-Regions of the United States and we're actually breaking into Canada now. We have, I think, almost 20 in Canada for the Eco-Regions there. And they're amazing. They're also available in an app form. Oh, they are. I didn't know that. The Be Smart Gardener app. So if, you know, that means...

Speaker 1: It's called, wait one more time, the Bees in...

Speaker 2: Bees Smart Gardener app. Oh, great. Awesome. Okay. And it's for free, free for download on iOS and Android. But it's basically all the information that are in the guides. You can go to our website and literally type in your zip code and get a PDF guide.

They're about 30 pages long. And it's, you know, give some nice introductory information about getting to know your landscape and where you live, the natural history, the soil, things like that. And then it also gives you a planting list of native plants in your area. You can even on the app filter like, OK, I want a red plant that attracts hummingbirds. And it will tell you, you know, give you some suggestions. So I think that's a really, really great tool for a pollinator work.

Speaker 1: It's, and it's so, it really is, they're all really laid out well. And it is a thing that you'll come and, you know, I was thinking again, I keep thinking about our conversation today is like, you know, people want to walk away with some practical tips and saying, OK, here's an app. Like, what do I plant?

And you give them an app and they can, you know, thinking about what their garden aesthetic is and their, you know, their specific gardening conditions be able to kind of come up with something and, you know, take that next step towards creating pollinator habitat. It's so important. Right.

Great tool. Last one is, is there, I know it must be hard when you work for pollinator partnership, when you're asked a question, do you have a favorite pollinator species?

Speaker 2: And it is a really hard question. And I don't know that I have a favorite, but I do have one that whenever I see it, I get really excited and I love to see it. And it's one I see on a daily basis. Oh, cool. So I feel like I have a good relationship with this species. So I live in San Francisco and I have a huge pentamin tree like outside my backyard and outside my back door. And I see Anna's hummingbirds every day.

Oh, great. And I just think hummingbirds are, they're adorable, but they're also fierce and feisty. And I love, you know, the noises they make and I love, you know, how they can be kind of territorial and they're just really cool little creatures. And Anna's hummingbirds are really neat. So they're pretty much all along the West Coast of the United of North America. They go from Baja to British Columbia. You probably maybe have them in Portland.

Speaker 1: We do. They're, they're, they're resident up here as well during the winter. Yeah. Right.

Speaker 2: Right. Exactly. So you can see them all year round. I like that here as well. And they're, they're really vocal and really active. I think the males are the most vocal of any hummingbird.

I'm in North America. So you can always hear them coming and hear their wings flap before you see them. So I always have fun trying to spot them in my backyard.

Speaker 1: You might be the fur, and this is shameful for me. This is the maybe the fiftiesh episode. This is the first, you know, hummingbird pick. And we really are, you know, really behind. We've had a couple of butterfly shows, but we've not had a hummingbird show. So we got to do it. And this is really inspiring me to reach out to our hummingbird community and get, get some more information.

Yeah, you should do that. Well, this is really exciting. A 11th annual National Polymer Week just around the corner. I can see the clock ticking on the Pollinator Partnerships website. Get out and to everybody out there, get out and let's talk to the public about pollinators. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. It was great talking with you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. Show notes with information discussed in each episode can be found at pollinationpodcast.oregonstate.edu. We'd also love to hear from you and there are several ways to connect. For one, you can visit our website to post an episode specific comment, suggest a future guest or topic, or ask a question that could be featured in a future episode. You can also email us at [email protected]. Finally, you can tweet questions or comments or join our Facebook or Instagram communities. Just look us up at OSU Pollinator Health. If you like the show, consider letting iTunes know by leaving us a review or rating.

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