Pollinators

Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. More than 3,500 species of native bees help increase crop yields. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.

In Montana, native and nonnative pollinators such as native bees, honey bees, beetles, flies, moths, and butterflies forage on almost 40 agricultural crop species grown in Montana. Montana is also one of the top honey-producing states in the nation.

EQIP Honey Bee Pollinators Initiative

• Honey Bee Pollinator Initiative Fact Sheet (PDF; 108 KB)
• 2020 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Honey Bee Pollinators Initiative

Pollinator Fact Sheets

• Pollinators Fact Sheet (PDF; 611 KB)

Pollinator Technical Notes

• Creating and Enhancing Habitat for Pollinator Insects NRCS Montana Biology Technical Note MT-20 Rev. 9, December 2018 (PDF; 594 KB)

Pollinator Plants

• How to Choose a Good Pollinator Seed Mix (PDF; 20.8MB)
• Montana Native Plants for Pollinator-Friendly Plantings (PDF; 1.3 MB)

More Pollinator Information

• Pollinator Conservation Takes Off in Montana ArcGIS Story Map
• Help Pollinators Help You
• Butterflies
• Bee Pollen Popular (PDF: 1.6 MB) Activity book for grades 2 through 7.
• "Protecting Pollinators" Video
• National NRCS Insects & Pollinators
• National NRCS Conservation Work for Honey Bees
• National NRCS Monarch Butterflies

Pollinator Information on Other Web Sites

• Pollinators      U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators      U.S. Forest Service
• Pollinator Conservation      Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
• Pollinator Guide      University of Wyoming Extension
• Pollinator Health Center      Montana State University
• Bees      Montana Department of Agriculture
• Pollinator Partnership