[Pollinator] FW: The Hagstrom Report | Friday 06.05.15-First Lady Launches Million Pollinator Garden Challenge

Sat Jun 6 03:35:12 PDT 2015

Excerpt from Hagstrom Report, forwarded with kind permission of Jerry Hagstrom.

Tom

The Hagstrom Report Friday, June 5, 2015 | Volume 5, Number 94

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 <https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1433521345-ab67500269bb351d0de12a6d6e707cc4-8f7f387?pa=30797784182> The Hagstrom Report

Friday, June 5, 2015 | Volume 5, Number 94

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▪ First lady launches million pollinator garden challenge

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First Lady Michelle Obama teaches students about the importance of pollinators, during a luncheon Wednesday in the East Room. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

First lady launches million pollinator garden challenge

First Lady Michelle Obama this week used the harvest of her kitchen garden to launch a campaign to convince Americans to plant a million pollinator gardens, which would stem the loss of bees and other pollinators.

“We planted a pollinator garden in the White House kitchen garden last year, but we challenged others to do the same,” the first lady noted in remarks Wednesday in the East Room, where the harvest was moved and turned into a luncheon for students because of rain.

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Assembled to issue the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge are, left to right: Laurie Adams, executive director of Pollinator Partnership; Mary Phillips of the National Wildlife Federation; Collin O'Mara, president and CEO of National Wildlife Federation; Jennifer Tedeschi, COO of the National Gardening Association; Jane DeMarchi, vice president of government and regulatory affairs, American Seed Trade Association; Deb Eschmeyer, executive director of Let's Move! (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The National Pollinator Garden Network, she noted, has launched the Million Pollinator Garden “so that we get millions of more pollinator gardens planted out there around the country so that we don’t lose these important pollinating species.”

Butterflies, bats, bees, birds – all of those, they get attracted to the gardens, and then they go and sprinkle life around so that food grows,” the first lady told the students, who also made and ate salads of produce from the kitchen garden with a dressing using honey from the White House beehive.

A spokeswoman for the first lady noted that a conversation about pollinators is continuing on Twitter through the hashtag #PolliNation.

Earlier on a call to reporters, members of the National Pollinator Garden Network praised President Barack Obama for raising the issue of pollinators, and noted that Obama has said that individual Americans can help restore pollinator habitat by planting pollinator-friendly plants.

“We are asking Americans to make a difference,” said Laurie Adams of the Pollinator Partnership, which includes garden groups and the National Wildlife Federation.

Adams acknowledged that a million pollinator gardens “won’t get us” to the seven million acres of habitat that Obama has said is needed, but it will help and also make more Americans aware of the problem.

Andrew LaVigne of the American Seed Trade Association said there is plenty of seed for pollinator plants available, and rumors that there is not enough seed are “an urban myth.”

Miles Grant of the National Wildlife Federation said there is too much attention paid to controversial issues such as the impact of pesticides on pollinators and too little attention paid to the need for habitat.

But a source in the beekeeping industry told The Hagstrom Report that, while increased habitat helps all pollinators, it will help wild pollinators much more than the managed bees that are used to pollinate many crops.

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▪  <https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1433521345-3231e772e935c2683ca8e017eb9a7522-8f7f387?pa=30797784182> Million Pollinator Garden Challenge

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▪  <https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1433521345-b0c21508d835f3f63087268c57596bb0-8f7f387?pa=30797784182> White House Bees (video)

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▪  <https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1433521345-2650eb25ef14b2d56da940535f130e17-8f7f387?pa=30797784182> Presidential memorandum – Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators

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▪  <https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1433521345-94f426e40589daeaab96234eae1449d2-8f7f387?pa=30797784182> WhiteHouse.gov – Announcing New Steps to Promote Pollinator Health

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At the White House beehive on the South Lawn, foraging bees help pollinate the nearby kitchen garden, which has a separate pollinator area. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

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