Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

A Xylocopa mordax bee gathers nectar from a Chamaecrista glandulosa flower. Photo by Jonathan A Lopez, UPR graduate student.

Helping Caribbean Pollinators with Wildlife Habitat Planting

NRCS offers technical & financial assistance to help farmers and forest landowners apply conservation practices to provide habitat for pollinators and critical wildlife species.

Female Antillean Mango hummingbird (Zumbador Dorado) gathering nectar from an ixora flower. Photo by Jose Gilberto Martinez.

NRCS helps Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands farmers prepare conservation plans and apply practices to benefit soil, water, air, plants, and animals for productive farms and healthy ecosystems.

You can improve pollinator and wildlife habitat on your farm through the NRCS conservation practice Wildlife Habitat Planting. NRCS provides cost-share to farmers and landowners to plant flower or shrub seeds or seedlings to provide essential food, refuge and cover for pollinators and wildlife. These plantings are particularly valuable when converting cropland or pastureland to dedicated wildlife habitat.

The Wildlife Habitat Planting practice is also used to convert degraded habitat, like abandoned areas covered by exotic plant species, to high quality habitat with more native plant species variety. This practice is very commonly used to provide habitat rich flowering plants for pollinators and monarch butterflies.

Other NRCS conservation practices that can be applied with Wildlife Habitat Planting include Upland Wildlife Habitat Management or Wetland Wildlife Habitat Management, Hedgerow Planting, Riparian Forest Buffers, Structures for Wildlife, and Tree and Shrub Establishment. To participate in our programs to help pollinators, contact your local NRCS Field Office.

Caribbean Pollinators in Agriculture Poster

Caribbean Pollinators in Agriculture poster.

 

Afiche de Polinizadores en la Agricultura

Afiche de Polinizadores en la agricultura

 

Carpenter bee, St. John, USVI. Photo by Gail Karlsson.
Carpenter bee in St. John, USVI. Photo by Gail Karlsson.

More Information

Mario Rodríguez

State Resource Conservationist