Memorandum of Understanding with the Pollinator Partnership/North
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
October 17, 2008
In Reply Refer To:
1736 (230) P
EMS TRANSMISSION 10/28/2008
Information Bulletin No. 2009-011
To: All Field Offices
From: Chief, Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation
Subject: Memorandum of Understanding with the Pollinator Partnership/North
American Pollinator Protection Campaign
Pollinators provide services that are crucial to healthy ecosystems and healthy economies. Maintaining healthy pollinator populations is essential to successful restoration of native plant communities on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Common pollinators include honey bees, native bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, ants, other insects as well as some birds and bats. Ninety-percent of all flowering plants are pollinated by insects, birds or bats and more than three-fourths of the world’s crops rely on these insects and other animals for pollination. The global economic benefit of pollination is estimated at $117 billion. Decline in the health and population of pollinators pose a substantial threat to biodiversity, global food webs and human health.
In June 2007, the BLM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Pollinator Partnership (formerly known as Coevolution Institute). The Pollinator Partnership is the non-profit administrator for a collaboration known as the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC). The MOU establishes a broad framework for working with the Pollinator Partnership and NAPPC to conserve native North American pollinators and pollinator-dependent animal and plant species and their native plant habitats on public land. The BLM employees may view the signed MOU on the intranet at URL: http://web.blm.gov/internal/wo-500/directives/mou/MOU-230-2007-005.pdf and a copy is included as Attachment 1.
Through NAPPC more than 90 private, government, university and non-profit organizations are working together to encourage the health of resident and migratory pollinating animals in North America. The NAPPC is overseen by a steering committee of leading scientists from across the country who develop issues for task forces and committees to address at the annual conference over the year. Task forces typically complete their work in a year while committee work is a longer term. Attachment 2 is a list of NAPPC Steering Committee members and task forces and committees for Fiscal_Year (FY) 2009. The BLM Washington Office participates regularly on several of the NAPPC task forces and committees. Participation is open to State and Field Offices as well.
The NAPPC partners work together on a variety of pollinator projects. They sponsored the National Academy of Sciences Report on the Status of Pollinators of North America and worked with the U.S. Postal Service to issue Pollinator stamps in 2007. They composed a white paper on honey bee health and the effects of importing bumble bees into the United States. They created education and outreach materials including National Pollinator Week posters and the pollinator garden wheel with numerous partners including those Federal agencies in the Plant Conservation Alliance. Recently, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, NAPPC developed a zip code-based program tied to a series of ecoregional planting guides for creating pollinator habitat. The guides are based on Bailey’s ecoregional classification and can help users choose local adapted native plant species to create pollinator habitat. The first guides in the series are available at http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm and the entire series is
scheduled for completion by the end of 2009.
The BLM is working to benefit pollinators both directly and indirectly:
Through habitat conservation and restoration with native plant materials
By implementing Standard Operating Procedures for pollinators in the Vegetation Treatments on BLM Lands in 17 Western States Environmental Impact Statement
Through species management including inventory, monitoring and recovery actions, and
By incorporating the maintenance and monitoring of ecosystem services and ecosystem processes in projects developed for initiatives such as Healthy Lands and the Assessment Inventory and Monitoring Strategy.
Native pollinating animals are closely tied to native plant species. Standard Operating Procedures outlined for pollinators should be used when you treat vegetation, and consider how your activities and planning efforts might benefit native pollinators. Look for opportunities to work in cooperation with our NAPPC partners to conserve the native pollinators of public lands and implement the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences Report. Ways we can do this at the State and Field Office level include:
Providing interpretation on pollinators, native plants and native plant communities
Incorporating pollinator habitat needs including using quality nectar plants and larval host plants in field-level restoration project design
Inventorying for and monitoring local pollinators, especially for those of rare and endemic plant species occurring in Field Offices as outlined in the National Academy of Sciences Report on the Status of Pollinators of North America, and
Participating in local seed collection of pollinator habitat plants through Seeds of Success for developing new native plant materials.
Please continue your work in these areas and look for additional ways to benefit our Nation’s pollinator populations. Attachment 3 provides a list of web pages of pollinator resources that may be useful in implementing pollinator management and public education with NAPPC and other partners to conserve pollinating animals and native plant communities. Please review these information sources and if you have any questions, or need additional information please contact Peggy Olwell, Plant Conservation Program Lead at 202-452-7764 or Carol Spurrier, BLM Botanist and Chair, NAPPC Public Land Managers Task Force at 202-452-7736.
Signed by: Authenticated by:
E. Dwight Fielder Robert M. Williams
Division Chief Division of IRM Governance,WO-560
Fish, Wildlife and Plant Conservation
3 Attachments
1 - Copy of BLM/NAPPC Memorandum of Understanding (4 pp)
2 - NAPPC Structure and Issues (1p)
3 - Pollinator Resources (2 pp)