Passport to Texas

Common Eastern Bubmle Bee (Bombus impatiens) worker in flight
TEXAS: Lamar Co. Camp Maxey National Guard Facility in Paris
27.August.2009 J.C. Abbott

Making Pollinators a Priority Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Honeybees, native bees, bats, butterflies and other insects are pollinators, and are vital to our economy, food security, and environmental health. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Landowner Incentive Program, or LIP, can help interested landowners manage their property for pollinators.

09-The LIP program at the moment is prioritizing projects that are directed at pollinators. Pollinators are definitely hot.

Arlene Kalmbach coordinates the program.

33-Pollinators got on the Landowner Incentive priority list based on the funding source. The landowner Incentive Program is funded by the Fish and Wildlife Service–partners for fish and wildlife program. And pollinator projects are a high priority for them, so they are a high priority for us. They would have been a
high priority for us regardless of our funding source. But, it helps that everybody’s on the same page. So, with this next round of projects, we hope to see a lot of pollinator targeted projects.

Something to know about the LIP program is it does not have acreage restrictions.

13-It really just depends on the resources you’re trying to restore or protect. In the history of the program, I’ve seen us work on an urban lot to thousands of acres of West Texas.

Have a project in mind? Find details on the Landowner Incentive Program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Monarch butterfly

Ensuring Monarch Survival Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Monarch butterfly population is in decline.

06- The current thought is that it’s actually several different factors that are contributing to the decline that we’re seeing.

Ben Hutchins is an invertebrate biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

16- Historically, one of the big issues was deforestation in the forests in a couple of states in Mexico where the monarchs overwinter. We’ve also had really cold weather at those overwintering sites, and also some prolonged [drought and] hot weather up here in the United States.

Butterfly habitat is inadequate along their migration routes. Milkweed plants are the monarch’s preferred nectar and host plants. Citizens who grow milkweed in
their landscapes can help support monarch migration.

17- Those [milkweed] can be used by monarchs. But, we’re really starting to try to push that people are really conscious about which species of milkweed they’re planting. We’re advocating to look at what’s native to your area and plant regional appropriate milkweeds.

Hutchins says we need to plant more than milkweeds; a diversity of plant species will attract more monarchs and other pollinators, and provide them with the food and shelter they need for their long journey.

Find more monarch information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Well-known, and important, pollinator: the European Honeybee

Pollinator Corridors Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In May, President Barack Obama announced a national strategy to make Interstate 35 a 1,500-mile “pollinator corridor.”

06- US agriculture benefits from insect pollination to the tune of about 18 to 20-billion [dollars] a year.

Michael Warriner is an invertebrate biologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife. The plan: rehabilitate pollinator habitats from the Texas-Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota.

Gardener, author, and green lifestyle expert, Shawna Coronado (http://shawnacoronado.com), believes this effort must extend beyond the highway and deep into the heart of the urban jungle.

23- One of the problems we have in cities all around the united States is, we have a dead area–that hot cement area that is the city. We have all these concerns about bees and butterflies and how we keep them in our communities and going throughout communities. Well, the best way to do that, of course, is to plant a native pollinator garden. Plants that are pollinator oriented.

Shawna hopes to see people growing pollinator gardens on apartment and condo balconies, and building rooftops.

19-My little dream is to have a pollinator corridor going through every city that would lead the bees and the butterflies and such through, instead of this giant, miles and miles and miles of area that they cannot cross through easily. This could provide a solution because of its unique way that it can fit into an urban environment.

Tomorrow: helping the Monarch butterfly.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I-m Cecilia Nasti.