From Plant Press Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2014.
The week of June 16-22 has been designated as Pollinator Week to mark a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator and plant populations. Each year the Pollinator Partnership, along with a wide range of partners (including federal agencies, non-profits, and for-profits), design and distribute an educational pollinator poster to promote Pollinator Week. The posters are one of the most popular outreach material items offered. The Pollinator Partnership is the largest non-profit organization in the world dedicated to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems. It manages the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), a consortium of more than 120 affiliated organizations, working to implement, promote and support a clear, continent-wide coordinated action plan to coordinate projects in the areas of pollinator research, education and awareness, conservation and restoration. The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) has been a partner of NAPPC since its inception in 1999, and NMNH conservation biologist Gary Krupnick serves on the NAPPC Steering Committee.
This year NAPPC has teamed up with the North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC) to promote Pollinator Week. The 2014 Pollinator Week poster features illustrations of seven native orchid-pollinator interactions with the theme “Native Orchids Need Their Pollinators.” Included among the illustrations is a mosquito, Aedes communis, pollinating the blunt-leaved orchid, Platanthera obtusata, a wildflower found in wet forests, sphagnum bogs and true tundra of Alaska, Canada, and New England. Krupnick, co-chair of the NAPPC orchid-pollinator Task Force, led the scientific advisory team in overseeing the production and scientific content of the poster.
Posters are available to order for free (except for shipping and handling) on the Pollinator Partnership website, http://pollinator.org/posters.htm. The website also has a downloadable PDF of the poster. Posters are for educational purposes only and are not intended for resale. The website also features information about the important role of pollinators and the dangers they face. Further information on the orchid species represented in the poster can be found on NAOCC’s Go Orchids website, a tool to explore orchids native to the U.S. and Canada.
NMNH and other members of NAPPC will also be hosting events at their institutions to mark Pollinator Week. NMNH will feature a variety of public programs including lectures and family friendly activities that will focus on orchids and their pollinators during the week of June 16. Be sure to check the museum’s calendar of events for the latest information.
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