Protecting pollinators

Pollinators, like bees, rely on different sources of pollen and need different types of habitat. Having a diversity of pollen sources and of habitat, within and adjacent to our right of way, is critical to pollinator health.

Review our Creation of pollinator habitat list (PDF 233KB) to learn how most restoration sites can provide habitat for a wide variety of pollinators.

You can also refer to our flowering charts to help choose native plants for your region:

• Sequential Flowering Native Plants of the PNW Western WA (PDF 62KB)
• Sequential Flowering Native Plants of the PNW Eastern WA (PDF 54KB)
• Sequential Flowering Native Prairie Species South Puget Sound (PDF 54KB)

Meet the pollinators

Animal pollinators play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of most fruits and vegetables. Neither plant nor pollinator populations can exist in isolation – should one disappear, the other is one generation away from disaster.

Follow the links below to learn about these very important pollinators and the flowers they visit (Source: USDA Forest Service):

• Ants
• Bats
• Bees
• Beetles
• Birds
• Butterflies
• Flies
• Moths
• Unusual
• Wasps

What is pollination?

Pollination: the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.

Flowers rely on vectors to move pollen, including wind, water, birds, insects, butterflies, bats, and other animals that visit flowers. We call animals or insects that transfer pollen from plant to plant “pollinators”.

Pollination usually occurs during an animal’s activity on a flower. While the pollinator eats, collects pollen for its protein and other nutrition, or sips nectar from the flower, pollen grains attach themselves to the animal’s body. When the animal visits another flower for the same reason, pollen can fall off onto the flower’s stigma and may result in successful reproduction of the flower. (Source: USDA Forest Service)