Across the globe, people will be celebrating Pollinator Week
June 15 - 21. In Georgia, the State Botanical Garden in Athens will anticipate
Pollinator Week with a webinar on June 9 featuring renowned pollinator expert,
Dr. Stephen Buchmann, followed by a flower and pollinator walk around the
Garden led by naturalists Dale Hoyt and Linda Chafin.
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| Black Swallowtail Butterfly visiting Obedient Plant along the Altamaha River. | Photo by James Holland. |
Dr. Buchmann is an entomologist and Adjunct Scientist at the
University of Arizona, as well as the International Director for the Pollinator
Partnership, the largest organization in the world
dedicated exclusively to the protection of pollinators and their ecosystems.
He is the author of two books, “The Forgotten Pollinators” and “The Reason for
Flowers.” Dr. Buchmann’s online presentation will explore the complex
relationships between plants and pollinators and discuss the global threats to
pollinator health.
Providing pollinator habitat has been a focus of the
Botanical Garden for years. “The Flower Garden was created seven years ago to
be a pollinator garden,” said Shelly Prescott, Director of Horticulture at the State
Botanical Garden. “The Bee Pasture especially provides year-round forage for
bees. But really, all of the Botanical Garden is focused on increasing pollinator
habitat and the number of pollinators.”
Pollinator Week started eight years ago with a designation
of National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Senate and the
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. It has since grown into an international
celebration of the importance of pollinators. Without pollinators, 30% of our
food crops would disappear, including most of the fruits and vegetables that
Americans love. Pollinators support the plants that clean the air, stabilize
soils, buffer severe weather events, and support other wildlife.
In his annual Proclamation of National Pollinator Week, U.S.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack states that pollinators “are essential
partners of farmers and ranchers in producing much of our food supply” and
“provide significant environmental benefits for healthy, diverse ecosystems.”
The webinar will be held from 1:00 - 2:00 pm on Tuesday,
June 9, in the Administration Building auditorium at the State Botanical Garden
of Georgia, followed by an hour-long walk through the Pollinator Garden. Both
the webinar and walk are free but the public is asked to register at http://tinyurl.com/sbgpollinate.
