[Pollinator] Toyota, NEEF and P2 Team Up on Pollinator Friendly Places Project

[Kelly Rourke]

*Toyota, NEEF and P2 Team Up on Pollinator Friendly Places Project*
Partnership will enhance 26,000 acres of pollinator habitat over the next
five years

April 29, 2022
https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-neef-and-p2-team-up-on-pollinator-friendly-places-project/

PLANO, Texas (April 29, 2022) – Pollinators put food on our tables. One out
of every three bites we eat comes to us courtesy of pollinators such as
bees, butterflies, moths, flower flies, beetles and bats. Today, Toyota is
donating $400,000 to the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)
and the Pollinator Partnership (P2) that will be used to enhance 26,000
acres of pollinator habitat across North America over the next five years.

“Toyota believes in supporting pollinator populations because they are so
critical to our food system,” said Becky Martin, manager of environmental
sustainability at Toyota. “We are working with NEEF and P2 to enhance
26,000 acres of habitat, which is the same size as our land footprint in
North America, with experts in pollinator conservation.”

The nonprofit NEEF will develop and administer the 2022 Biodiversity
Conservation Grant Program, which will fund projects to create, improve and
protect habitats for butterflies, bees, bats and others. The organization
will select the grantees, manage the payments and work with the grantees
during the life of their project. NEEF will also be responsible for
evaluating and reporting back to Toyota on the projects and their impacts.

“NEEF will also work with Toyota to provide hands-on volunteer activities
to allow Toyota team members and their families to actively participate in
pollinator enhancement projects supported by the grant program,” said Tony
Richardson, program director for Public Lands Engagement at NEEF. “There is
an incredible demand for this type of support and incredible work going on
throughout the country.”

P2 will distribute native wildflower seeds to qualified applicants to plant
in prairies, meadows, gardens or other habitats that already have flowering
vegetation. Adding flowering plants boosts the overall health and diversity
of the habitat. Recipients of the seeds include private landowners,
non-profits and local, state and federal government agencies. Thus far, P2
has supported 76 project sites across 13 states, Mexico and Canada totaling
1500 acres.

“About 75% of crop plants require or benefit from pollination and
ecosystems would seriously decline or go extinct without pollinators,”
commented Kelly Rourke, executive director of P2. “Pollinators play a
necessary role in the reproduction of up to 90% of flowering plants around
the world.”

P2 is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund Mexico to support their
ongoing reforestation work in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
(MBBR), located on the border of the central Mexico states of Michoacan and
Estado de Mexico. Funding from this program is being used to support the
production of 40,000 tree seedlings, including 20,000 oyamel firs and
20,000 Mexican pines, which monarchs use for their overwintering ground.
These trees will be used to reforest around 100 acres of land.

In Canada, P2 is working with Pollinator Partnership Canada (P2C) to
support habitat restoration on smaller parcels in British Columbia that
will be used for community education and engagement.

Biodiversity is one of Toyota’s four environmental sustainability focus
areas in North America. Biodiversity refers to the variety and
interdependence of species and ecosystems and the natural patterns they
form. Toyota’s biodiversity strategy is based on harnessing the knowledge
of experts to help protect species, restore habitats and expand the reach
of Toyota’s efforts to achieve broader positive conservation results.

Seventeen Toyota sites across North America have already planted pollinator
gardens to nurture monarch butterflies and other pollinator species along
the monarch migration path. In addition, Toyota has also worked with the
Suppliers Partnership for the Environment to launch the Pollinator Project
Challenge. Participating automakers and suppliers across North America have
planted more than 200 pollinator gardens during the period from 2020-2021.

To learn more about the expansion project, please read a feature story
published on Toyota’s newsroom:
https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-and-environmental-leaders-work-to-expand-pollinator-habitats/

If you want to learn more about Toyota’s efforts in biodiversity, please
visit Toyota’s website:
https://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport/biodiversity.

ABOUT POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP (P2)

Established in 1997, Pollinator Partnership is the largest 501(c) 3
non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the health, protection,
and conservation of all pollinating animals. Pollinator Partnership’s
actions for pollinators include education, conservation, restoration,
policy, and research. P2’s financial support comes through grants, gifts,
memberships and donations from any interested party. Its policies are
science-based, set by its board of directors, and never influenced by any
donor. To make a donation or for information, visit www.pollinator.org.

ABOUT NEEF:

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the nation’s
leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, creating
opportunities for people to experience and learn about the environment in
ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet. Congressionally
chartered in 1990 as a 501c3 nonprofit to complement the work of the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NEEF is a non-partisan, non-advocacy
organization working to make the environment more accessible, relatable,
relevant, and connected to people’s daily lives.

-- 

Kelly Rourke (she/her)

Executive Director

Pollinator Partnership

600 Montgomery St. Ste 440

San Francisco, CA 94111

e:  kr at pollinator.org

w:  www.pollinator.org

o:  415-362-1137

c: 585-255-0962

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