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Local Heroes – Your Hardworking Pollinators

04/30/2015

Local Heroes – Your Hardworking Pollinators is the theme for the 60^th Anniversary of Soil and Water Stewardship Week. Pollinators are an important part of our community. While many pollinators may seem like just annoying insects, they are actually a very important part of the web of life upon which we all depend. Pollinators form the underpinning of a healthy and sustainable future for food and the environment, but they have shown disturbing signs of decline in recent years. When pollinators shrink in number, many plants either produce less seed or no seed at all. The bottom line is, when pollinators start disappearing, plants start disappearing. Most plants depend upon pollinators to reproduce. While animals can travel and move around to find mates and reproduce, plants are rooted to one spot. Therefore, plants depend on pollinators to move pollen from their anthers to their stigma. On planet Earth there are more than 100,000 species of insects, including bees, flies, moths, butterflies and beetles that work hard as pollinators. There are also over 1,000 species of other animals such as birds, reptiles and mammals, including bats that pollinate plants. Your local conservation district can assist you in maintaining or developing habitat for pollinators. Nemaha County Conservation District 785-336-2186x110