Pollinator Protectors Case Studies

We’re enthusiastic about sharing 2024 Pollinator Protectors campaign success stories with you. What does Pollinator Protectors do, and who benefits from this program? Through Pollinator Protectors, ESC creates native habitat for pollinators and provides outreach and education experiences for communities. Pollinator Protectors allocates small grants for native plant material and related supplies, enabling our partners to create habitat and provide educational events. These projects benefit imperiled native pollinating species, native plants, and communities.

Since the origin of Pollinator Protectors in 2016 with milkweed plantings in just four states, the campaign has grown to include plantings in 26 US states and several projects in Mexico. In 2024, we’re spotlighting our work in Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and Ohio, in a new infographic.

Let’s dive into more detail in Arizona, where we’ve emphasized imperiled Monarch butterfly and pollinating bat species.  To support migratory pollinators, ESC is focussing on a community just 11 miles from the US-Mexico border: Arivaca, Arizona. To date, we’ve funded 12 native plantings for pollinators in Arivaca, creating a native plant corridor in partnership with the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project. In cooperation with our member organizations including Bat Conservation International, Lobos of the SW, and others, ESC funded the creation of two murals in Arivaca, by Tohono O’odham artist Paul ‘Nox’ Pablo. These murals are in a high visibility location beside an agave planting for nectivorous bats and other daytime and nighttime pollinating species. The mural is at the community dance hall, where conservation programming and presentations take place, including a 2024 talk by ESC’s Creative Engagement Director, Jeanne Dodds, about native Arizona pollinators and plant conservation.

In the last few months of 2024, we’re completing projects in Washington, DC, Idaho, and Washington State. These include neighborhood plantings for pollinator corridors with our partner DC Natives, a high-visibility rest area planting with educational signage, near the Snake River on the Idaho border, and native pollinator plantings at a youth garden and an urban Seattle farm.

To support these impactful community-led projects creating habitat for native pollinators and plants, please visit our Pollinator Protectors donation page. Your support makes our projects possible- thank you!