- Author
- Pollinator Health Task Force
- Publication Year
- 2015
- Topic
- Planning, Pollinators & Invertebrates
On behalf of the Pollinator Health Task Force, we are pleased to transmit the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators (Strategy). Developed through a collaborative effort across the Executive Branch, this Strategy outlines a comprehensive approach to tackling and reducing the impact of multiple stressors on pollinator health, including pests and pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources, and exposure to pesticides.
Building on the current state of the science, andwith a renewed emphasis on expanding our understanding of the complex interactions among the various factors impacting pollinator health, the Strategy lays out current and planned Federal actions to achieve the following overarching goals:
- Honey Bees: Reduce honey bee colony losses during winter (overwintering mortality) to no more than 15% within 10 years. This goal is informed by the previously released Bee Informed Partnership surveys and the newly established quarterly and annual surveys by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Based on the robust data anticipated from the national, statistically-based NASS surveys of beekeepers, the Task Force will develop baseline data and additional goal metrics for winter, summer, and total annual colony loss.
- Monarch Butterflies: Increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies occupying an area of approximately 15 acres (6 hectares) in the overwintering grounds in Mexico, through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships, by 2020.
- Pollinator Habitat Acreage: Restore or enhance 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next 5 years through Federal actions and public/private partnerships.