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Help Your Local Pollinators

From your backyard to the larger community, there are many ways you can get involved and help our local pollinators.

Attend an Audubon Workshop

Audubon Society of Rhode Island offers a variety of Nature Programs including workshops that will teach you how you can help pollinators, nature walks where you will learn about natural pollinator habitat, and more!

View the Program and Event Calendar

Plant a Pollinator Garden

Enhance Bee Habitat

One of the best things you can do for pollinator habitat is leave some of your yard undisturbed. Longer grass, fallen branches, and good safe soils all provide pollinators with shelter. If leaving your yard undisturbed isn’t an option for you, there are still other ways to help support pollinator habitat. You can help by creating or purchasing bee boxes.

Visit Xerces Society's website for fact sheets on enhancing nests for native bees.

Avoid Using Pesticides

Most insecticides (and a handful of fungicides and herbicides) kill bees directly. Many have sublethal effects that reduce the number of offspring a female bee can produce. And the interactions between different types of pesticides is not well understood.

When you must use pesticides, apply so that they have minimal impact on nearby plants and maintain buffer zones between sprayed areas and nearby natural habitat. Do not apply pesticides when plants are in bloom. Apply during the night or when temperatures are cool and pollinators are less active.

Become a Beekeeper

Becoming a beekeeper is an amazing way to preserve bees! Beekeepers must register with the RI Department of Environmental Management and should take classes to learn how to effectively treat bee diseases. Rhode Island Beekeeper Association has programs, mentors and many other resources for the novice and experienced beekeeper. 

More Resources


Latest Pollinator News

Get the buzz on pollinator news and upcoming events.

Why should you care about bumblebees? Like many native bees and butterflies, bumbles are excellent pollinators and humans need pollinators to produce about two-thirds of the world’s food crops. No pollination, no seed development, no fruit, no vegetables. In this installment of the Newport This Week's "Nature in the Neighborhood" series, Audubon Senior Director of Education Lauren Parmelee talks about bumblebees.

Lawns are ecological deserts, creating a monoculture with little to no food for wildlife. Every garden is an opportunity for us to rethink our manicured yards and consider restoring habitat for native plants and wildlife. But where to begin?

Some scientists estimate that the monarch butterfly has declined by 85 to 95 percent in New England since the 1990s. In this installment of the Newport This Week Nature in the Neighborhood series, Audubon Senior Director of Education Lauren Parmelee reflects on the uniqueness of this endangered species and what you can do to help them.