Alabama leaders sign Operation Pollination pledge

     On April 19, leaders from Rotary Districts 6860 and 6880, Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, and Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area signed a joint Pollinator Resolution that simply states two things- 1) pollinators are declining in numbers, and 2) Rotary and NHAs can act together to help improve their dire state. This is the second time in Rotary history where an entire state has collectively pledged to support pollinators.

     Operation Pollination is a pollinator conservation framework where all organizations, Rotary or otherwise, are invited to participate. The framework’s two primary goals are to promote pollinator conservation education and to restore native habitat.

Joining the effort is important because pollinators are critical to life on Earth. More than 85% of the world’s plants need pollinators for their reproductive success. Pollinators are also directly responsible for more than 30% of the food we eat (USDA) and contribute tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. agricultural economy each year (OCS 2022).

     However, their populations are dwindling across the world and United States. Between April 2015 and April 2016, beekeepers in the U.S. lost 44% of their honey bee colonies from pathogens, use of pesticides, habitat loss, and habitat fragmentation. 4000 other species in the U.S. besides the honey bee face similar threats and declines. This is a food security, economic, and ecosystem resiliency crisis, especially for a heavily agricultural region like northwest Alabama.

     You and your organization can take action to help pollinators by joining Operation Pollination today. It just takes two steps to start. First, sign a pollinator resolution acknowledging the environmental issue of pollinator decline, then pledge to actively help reverse the decline in a way that works for you. Visit https://esrag.org/pollinators/ for project ideas and contact MSNHA Programs Coordinator TJ Johnson at tjohnson34@una.edu for more details.