Seeking Pollinator Pals!
Bumble bee on Milkweed photo by Janice Gardner
Are you a pal of the pollinators?
We're seeking volunteers for our 2023 field season to document pollinator sightings across Utah, and we'd love for you to join us!
Why? Utah's monarch butterflies and bumblebees have struggled in recent years. Difficult years of drought, warming climates, and loss of habitat are just some of the issues facing these remarkable insects.
Utah Pollinator Pursuit volunteers are working to change the course of their decline.
Last year, we had 115 volunteers log:
490 bumble bees across 17 species
177 monarch sightings
4 rare species habitats that are now being conserved & restored!
This information helps scientists map pollinator migration and habitat and plan for their conservation. With a network of committed volunteers across Utah, the project receives far more data than our scientists could collect alone, refining our ability to understand and conserve these species.
Project Training
Join us on Earth Day (Saturday, April 22, 2023) at the Natural History Museum of Utah for our warm-weather community science project trainings!
The Utah Pollinator Pursuit training will be from 11:15am-12:15pm, and you're invited to either join other project trainings or enjoy the museum the rest of the day!
Sign-ups for our Community Science training day close on April 10th, so if you haven't had a chance to sign up yet, please take a moment to do so now!
If you're unable to attend the in-person training, fret not! We will have a recorded training available on our project page following the event.
Why This Work Matters
Monarch butterfly photo by Rachel Taylor
Each year, we're able to contribute critical location and habitat condition information gathered by community scientists like YOU to state and federal wildlife practitioners, allowing them to target specific pollinator habitat areas for restoration, maintenance, and improvement.
Participation on the Utah Pollinator Pursuit project has continued to grow over the last several years, and we're seeing volunteers surveying a more expansive array of sites. From backyards to hiking trails to private agricultural surveys - our volunteers are helping us to fill in the map of monarch migration and western bumble bee habitat across Utah.
What about the bees?
For Utah's rare and target bumble bee species, we documented 38 golden northern bumble bee, 19 indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee, four mixed bumblebee, 17 Morrison’s bumble bee, seven western bumble bee, four American bumble bee, and one Sonoran bumble bee.
Thank You!
Thank you for everything you do to conserve our amazing pollinators in the West! This work would not be possible without the continued support of our outstanding volunteers.
If you're unable to join us in the field this year, there are other ways you can support this project! Please consider supporting this and other conservation work through donating, sharing on social media, or passing this email along to your family and friends.
Don't hesitate to email us at mary@sagelandcollaborative.org with any questions.