Learn how you can help Maine's insect pollinators





Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife





*mefishwildlife.com*






Maine's butterflies and bees need your help!?

orange monarch butterfly in middle of field with wild flowers

Monarch butterfly in field of wild flowers. Photo by Kelly Boland

Maine is home to a wide diversity of native insect pollinators, including many species of butterflies and moths, bees, beetles, and flies. The ecosystem services that these wild pollinators provide to natural communities and human societies is immeasurable. Without them, many wildflowers, shrubs, and trees, as well as fruits and vegetables, would not get pollinated, including important Maine crops like apples and blueberries.

Over the past few decades, several native Maine pollinators, including the monarch butterfly, rusty patched bumble bee, and hourglass drone fly have experienced significant declines throughout their ranges. Factors including habitat loss, disease, pesticides, competition from introduced species, and climate change have put these and other insect pollinators in danger of extirpation.

We can all help reverse the decline by protecting pollinator habitats. Here are a few ways to do so:

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Monarch caterpillar eating milkweed

*Invite Summer Monarchs ?* Providing summer habitat for monarch butterflies is as simple as allowing common milkweed, the sole host plant for their caterpillars and a valuable nectar source, to grow and flourish. Many other beneficial insects in Maine also feed at milkweed flowers.

*Create a Bumble Bee Haven ?* Bumble bees are habitat generalists, but they require an abundance and diversity of flowering plants that offer food from early spring to late fall. You can help by including an assortment of preferred pollinator flowers among your plantings during every part of the growing season.



deep green tall grass with bright yellow dandelions

*Embrace Your Wild Side ?* Some of the best habitats for pollinators are ?weedy? unmowed fields and roadsides, which generally benefit from full sun and are rich in pollinator favorites like clovers, milkweeds, goldenrods, vetches, dogbanes, asters, thistles, fireweed, lupines, and raspberries. You can replicate this at home by allowing a portion of your lawn to grow tall until late fall, or by creating an unmowed border around the edge of your property. In early spring, waiting two to three weeks between mowings will allow clovers, violets, creeping groundcovers, and dandelions to bloom - providing pollinators with some of their first available nectar and pollen sources of the season.







purple bee balm flower

*Plant a Pollinator Garden ?* Many common garden plants are especially attractive to butterflies, bumble bees, and other insect pollinators. Examples of favorites that are easily grown in Maine include bee balm, butterflyweed, sunflower, coneflower, thyme, mint, rhododendron, blueberry, and rose, but there are many more from which to choose. Use native plant species as often as possible.



orange butterfly weed

*Avoid Chemical Herbicides and Pesticides ?* Herbicides kill many of the flowering plants that pollinators feed on, and insecticides can kill bees and other insect pollinators ? either directly or by affecting their abilities to forage, reproduce, or care for their colonies. There are safer alternatives that can still help you manage plant diseases and insect pests around your home and garden. Use native plant species as often as possible and be sure to select nursery plants and seeds that have not been treated with pesticides.

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For more information, visit the Xerces Society [ [link removed] ]

*Learn about Invertebrate Conservation in Maine (PDF)* [ [link removed] ]


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