Pollinator Projects Help Sequester Carbon

North Dakota artist Paul Noot planted this Northern Plains NHA pollinator garden in front of the historic 1920 Bismarck Tribune building, which now houses the Bismarck Downtown Artist Cooperative.

Courtesy of Aaron Barth/ Northern Plains NHA

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) across the country and their partners engaged in pollinator habitat restoration are helping to sequester carbon, which typically contributes to climate change. Native pollinator gardens help foster healthy soil, which sequesters—or captures and stores—carbon dioxide gas.

Three years ago, three National Heritage Areas (Northern Plains NHA, Abraham Lincoln NHA, and MotorCities NHA) adopted Operation Pollination—an inclusive project that helps coordinate disparate pollinator advocacy groups. Since then, NHAs across the country have joined in this effort. Operation Pollination seeks to organize local partners in each NHA who are or want to be engaged in pollinator habitat restoration and educational programming.

By the time of the February 2020 Alliance of National Heritage Areas (ANHA) meeting in Washington, D.C., a dozen NHAs had signed Pollinator Resolutions, with pledge partners working on restoration projects. Collectively, more than 200 partners are helping keep carbon in the ground through pollinator habitat restoration.

Pollinator gardens help retain carbon, provide stopping points for pollinators, and reestablish native prairie plants in the urban areas in the Northern Plains National Heritage Area.

Courtesy of Aaron Barth/ Northern Plains NHA

While COVID-19 suspended some participation in this project, the project is moving forward this year in 2021. NHAs and partner organizations can join Operation Pollination by signing a Pollinator Resolution. More information can be found at https://operationpollination.net.

The three steps to becoming part of Operation Pollination include: 1) Pollinator Resolution; 2) Pollinator Pledge; and 3) Media Attention. The point of contact on this project at the National Park Service is Chris Stein, National Heritage Areas and Large Landscapes Initiatives Program Manager for Midwest Region.

Adding momentum to the initiative this past year, the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group of Rotary International adopted Operation Pollination in August 2020. Since that time, six Rotary Districts across the USA have joined Operation Pollination. At least nine more districts are in the works, including at least one in England.

In effect, NHAs that overlap with Rotary Districts have the potential to partner with thousands of volunteers in their locale, with Freedom’s Frontier NHA and the North Woods and Waters of the St. Croix Heritage Area (an area in Minnesota and Wisconsin seeking National Heritage Area designation) leading the way on this. This initiative is one way that NHAs can make a difference, responding to climate change by helping pollinators.