Pollinator Research Action Plan - Report of the Pollinator Health Task Force

Oct 4, 2026

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Pollinator Research Action Plan, prepared by the Pollinator Health Task Force, supports the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. It identifies research gaps and prioritizes Federal actions to address stressors affecting pollinators, including pests and pathogens, habitat reduction, nutritional shortfalls, and pesticide exposure. The plan aligns scientific priorities with public education, habitat improvement, and public-private partnerships, and outlines goals for honey bees, monarch butterflies, and pollinator habitat restoration.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages92

Reading Time3 h 52 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

Section I: Status and Trends

Introduction/Problem Statement

Key Priority Research Themes

Existing/Current Research

Research Gaps/Needs and Priority Actions

Agency Roles

Section II: Habitat (Including Stressors)

Introduction/Problem Statement

Key Priority Research Themes

Existing/Current Research

Research Gaps/Needs and Priority Actions

Agency Roles

Section III: Nutrition

Introduction/Problem Statement

Key Priority Research Themes

Existing/Current Research

Research Gaps/Needs and Priority Actions

Agency Roles

Section IV: Pollinator Pathogens and Pests

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POLLINATOR RESEARCH ACTION PLAN | | Report of the Pollinator Health Task Force
MAY 1 9 , 2 0 1 5
| May 19, 2015 On behalf of the Pollinator Health Task Force, we are pleased to transmit the National Strategy to Promote the Health of HoneyBees and Other Pollinators (Strategy). Developed through a collaborative effort across the Executive Branch, this Strategy outlines a comprehensive approach to tackling and reducing the impact of multiple stressors on pollinator health, including pests and pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources, and exposure to pesticides. Building on the current state of the science, and with a renewed emphasis on expanding our understanding of the complex interactions among the various factors impacting pollinator health, the Strategy lays out current and planned Federal actions to achieve the following overarching goals: • Honey Bees: Reduce honey bee colony losses during winter (overwintering mortality) to no more than 15% within 10 years. This goal is informed by the previously released Bee Informed Partnership surveys and the newly established quarterly and annual surveys by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Based on the robust data anticipated from the national, statistically-based NASS surveys of beekeepers, the Task Force will develop baseline data and additional goal metrics for winter, summer, and total annual colony loss. • Monarch Butterflies: Increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies occupying an area of approximately 15 acres (6 hectares) in the overwintering grounds in Mexico, through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships, by 2020. • Pollinator Habitat Acreage: Restore or enhance 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next 5 years through Federal actions and public/private partnerships. The Strategy addresses the four themes central to the June 2014 Presidential Memorandum “Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators,” namely: conducting research to understand, prevent, and recover from pollinator losses; expanding public education programs and outreach; increasing and improving pollinator habitat; and developing public-private partnerships across all these activities. A critical component of the Strategy is to advance the science underpinning the government’s land management and regulatory decisions. To this end, the Task Force has prepared the accompanying “Pollinator Research Action Plan,”which outlines gaps in current knowledge of pollinators and pollinator declines, and identifies priority research efforts needed to close these gaps. The Strategy also advances ambitious Federal commitments to increase and improve habitat for pollinators, both directly through the large variety of facilities and acreages of land managed by the Federal government, and indirectly through the leadership role that Federal agencies can play in interactions with states, localities, the private sector, and citizens. These actions range from planting pollinator gardens and improving land management practices at Federal facilities, to advancing the availability and use of pollinator-friendly seed mixes in land management, restoration, and rehabilitation actions nationwide. Pollinator research action Plan By expanding the conversation through enhanced public education and outreach, as well as stronglybuilt public/private partnerships, the Strategy seeks to engage all segments of our society so that, working together, we can take meaningful and important steps to reverse pollinator declines. Pollinators are critical to our Nation’s economy, food security, and environmental health. Honey bee pollination alone adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year, and provides the backbone to ensuring our diets are plentiful with fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Through the actions discussed in this Strategy, and b

FAQs

What purpose does the Pollinator Research Action Plan serve?

It accompanies the National Strategy and outlines gaps in knowledge about pollinators and pollinator declines, identifying priority research efforts to close those gaps.

Which major stressors affecting pollinator health does the Strategy address?

The Strategy targets pests and pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources, and exposure to pesticides.

What goals does the plan emphasize for honey bees, monarch butterflies, and habitat?

It targets winter honey bee colony losses to no more than 15% within 10 years, increases the Eastern monarch population to 225 million by 2020, and restores or enhances 7 million acres of pollinator habitat over the next 5 years.

Oct 4, 2026

Upload by jay