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<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Tom Van Arsdall
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><a href="mailto:TVA@pollinator.org"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">TVA@pollinator.org</span></a></span><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> 703.509.4746</span> </div>
<div><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">October 19, 2017</span></div><div> <b><br></b></div><div><b>2017 North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Award Winners</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>2017 Pollinator Advocate and Farmer-Rancher Award winners from the United States, Canada and Mexico were honored by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) at an October 17 reception opening the coalition’s seventeenth annual conference. The reception was held at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, from 6-8 pm. All winners were in attendance except for the awardee from Mexico, who had a representative deliver an acceptance speech on his behalf.</div><div><br></div><div>NAPPC is a growing, collaborative body of diverse partners, including respected scientists, researchers, private sector stakeholders, conservationists and government officials working to find common ground on innovative initiatives that help pollinators. “We are pleased to be able to recognize the outstanding efforts of these special individuals, who are leading by example in taking innovative actions that help make the North American landscape a better place for our pollinating partners” says Val Dolcini, President and CEO of the Pollinator Partnership, which facilitates NAPPC.</div><div><br></div><div><b>A brief description of award winners and their actions follows:</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><i>2017 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate – United States</i></div><div><b>Nikolas Liepins</b>, founder and COO of Bee Kind MN, gives age focused presentations to youth in local schools and scouts groups. After starting out as a project for his FIRST®Lego® League Team at Saint Paul Academy and Summit School, where his bee houses were a component for the competition solution, Nikolas took it upon himself to establish the 501c3, Bee Kind MN. He makes several resources available to the general public on his website including plant lists and bee house building instructions. He has also presented and held activities at Aldo Leopold Weekend at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Landscape revival EXPO, and Pollinator Party in the twin cities area. In addition to education, Nikolas has partnered with 3M and Target Center to promote biodiversity by placing native bee houses across their campuses. On his website, 140 bee houses are registered from the United States, Canada, and France, and he provides free seeds for pollinator plants to all who register their bee houses in Minnesota.</div><div><i></i></div><div><i>2017 NAPPC-NACD Farmer-Rancher - United States</i></div><div><b>Brendon Rockey</b> of Rockey Farms is known for growing its specialty potatoes and quinoa. Under Brendon’s direction, Rockey Farms has become a leader in using a biotic approach to farming. Brendon uses biological inputs like companion crops, livestock, green manure fields, and flowering strips instead of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. These inputs are all part of a system that supports soil health and attracts pollinators as well as other beneficial insects that act as a defense against aphids and thrips. Four-row flowering strips in his fields serve as nectar hubs, and helped give his 90 seed potato lots a perfect inspection score under biotic Integrated Pest Management last year. Brendon also uses nectar plants in his potato greenhouse to create pollinator habitat and eliminate the need for insecticide. He has begun incorporating a legume heavy mix of companion crops that fixes nitrogen, mobilizes phosphorus, and creates more pollinator habitat. During the winter months, Brendon travels North America to share his success, and in 2017 went as far as France and Belgium. The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) co-sponsors this award with NAPPC.</div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>2017 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate – Canada</i></div><div><b>Dr. Cameron Cartiere and Nancy Holmes </b>of at Border Free Bees provide a model for how communities can come together to create and preserve pollinator habitat and understand the scope of pollination systems. For the last three years, this project has been influential in biodiversity conservation in the province of British Columbia, particularly in the municipalities of Richmond in the Vancouver area and Kelowna in the agricultural valley of the Okanagan. It has created over 40 projects, events, and educational experiences in these communities, ranging from major plantings and significant art exhibitions to smaller community gatherings and projects. Although Border Free Bees is in its last year, the projects will continue into 2018 including projects that are being developed in Idaho and Mexico.</div><div><br></div><div><i>2017 NAPPC Farmer-Rancher - Canada</i></div><div><b>Antony John</b> of Soiled Reputation has been supplying south- western Ontario for over 20 years with over 50 varieties of gourmet organic vegetables. It was also the host farm for former Foodtv show “The Manic Organic”, demonstrating the principles of organic gardening and associated benefits. Antony was trained as a wildlife biologist, and his farm is run as an ecosystem where maximizing biodiversity is the paramount objective. In addition to being certified organic, the farm is certified bee-friendly. A 2-acre meadow is home to 24 bee hives, and is used as a breeding station to produce more queens for other bee yards. Flowering plants can be found in the huge native garden, interspersed through crops, and in buffer strips that flower throughout the growing season, providing a consistent food source for pollinators. Legumes are also interseeded with crops and planted in buffer strips for nitrogen fixation and pollination. Grass strips and 20 acres of legumes in rotation provide further cover and food.</div><div><i style=""><br></i></div><div><i style="">2017 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate – Mexico</i></div><div><b>Eduardo Rendon Salinas</b> began his work with monarchs in 1993 as part of a research team that systematically monitored monarch overwintering forests in Mexico. Since then, he has continued to monitor the monarch population, first as Assistant Director of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) and, since 2004, as Director of the Monarch Butterfly Program for WWF. With MBBR, his research led to the increase of protected area from 16,110 to 56,259 hectares. He also established the baseline of forest cover in core habitat areas. In 2009, he was instrumental in working with the indigenous community to develop a community surveillance strategy that resulted in the eradication of clandestine logging in the MBBR core area. In 2013, Eduardo organized the First International Symposium on Research and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly, and he has been instrumental in coordinating three more symposia. To date, he has coordinated the reforestation of 11,637 hectares of forests in the Monarch Region with 13 million native trees, 12 million of which have been produced in a network of 13 community nurseries established by WWF and its national and international partners.</div><div><br></div><div>The formal NAPPC conference, hosted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, took place October 18 and 19th. Timely topics included pollinators and the Endangered Species Act; pathogens, pesticides and pollinators; the critical role of state apiarists; managing roadsides for pollinators; Palmer Amaranth and the CRP; Canadian agriculture and pollinators; the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge; the current state of the beekeeping industry; and reports from honey bee health researchers on projects funded through NAPPC. Task forces worked to select consensus-based projects and desired outcomes for the coming year. Additional information about pollinator award winners from 2017 and previous years is available at <a href="http://pollinator.org/awards">http://pollinator.org/awards</a>.</div></div><div><br></div><div><b>See the full release with photos at:</b></div><div><a href="http://pollinator.org/assets/globals/2017-NAPPC-Awards-Media-Advisory.pdf">http://pollinator.org/assets/globals/2017-NAPPC-Awards-Media-Advisory.pdf</a><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin-left:4.5pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Kelly
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