Helping Pollinators Starts with Protecting and Creating Habitat
There are countless ways to help pollinators—planting flowers, reducing pesticide use, supporting local farms, or even just learning more about the bees, butterflies, and other species in your area. All of these actions matter. But if we want to make a real, lasting difference, one thing matters most: protecting the habitat we already have and creating new habitat where it’s been lost.
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that helping pollinators means starting from scratch with a new garden or planting bed. And yes—new plantings are wonderful! But every time we protect an existing patch of wildflowers, a hedgerow, a mature tree, or a meadow, we’re safeguarding an ecosystem that has already been hard at work for decades, even centuries. Once these places are gone, they’re often gone for good.
So what can we do?
at home
Get involved in helping a community space like a City of Vancouver Naturespaces site.
Create container gardens in smaller spaces with native pollinator plants.
Replace ornamental lawns with native plants that bloom from spring through fall.
Leave some “messy” areas with bare soil, stems, or leaf litter for nesting.
Avoid using insecticides and herbicides, especially during bloom.
at work
Plant native wildflower strips or pollinator gardens on unused lawn areas or along property edges.
Reduce mowing frequency to let clover, dandelions, and other forage bloom.
Preserve existing trees, shrubs, and patches of native vegetation when developing land.
through our city
Manage roadside rights-of-way and park edges as pollinator habitat.
Incorporate native plants into landscaping for public buildings and green spaces.
Protect and restore natural areas like prairies, wetlands, and riparian zones.
Work with your grounds departments to help them embrace planting and caring for native pollinator plants.
If you’re looking for the most impactful way to help pollinators, start with this: identify and protect the green spaces that are already supporting life. Then, build on them—add native flowers, create corridors, and connect your patch to others. Pollinators can’t survive without healthy, connected habitat, and with a little effort, every yard, business, and public space can be part of the solution.
Because at the end of the day, helping pollinators isn’t about doing “something”—it’s about doing what works. And nothing works better than giving them a safe, thriving place to live.
Be a Voice for Pollinators
Pollinators can’t speak for themselves—but they certainly give us reasons to listen. From the soft hum of a bumble bee in a flower to the flash of a butterfly’s wings, their presence is a reminder that healthy ecosystems are built on tiny, tireless workers. Yet habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change are silencing those voices in too many places.
That’s where we come in. Being a voice for pollinators means speaking up—at the garden fence, in the city council chamber, and everywhere in between. It’s sharing what we know, advocating for change, and reminding others that the fate of bees, butterflies, beetles, and other pollinators is tied to our own. We know pesticides and fungicides are highly detrimental to pollinators. Talk to your friends, family, neighbors, community groups and local government about these things as much as you can, and don’t be afraid to call/email/talk to your local governments about the changes you want to see.
You can start small. Talk to a neighbor about why leaving the dandelions for a few weeks helps early spring bees. Share a post about a local native plant sale. Tell your friends that planting even a single pot of nectar-rich flowers on a balcony matters.
Then, think bigger. Support local policies that protect green spaces. Write to your city and school district about reducing pesticide use in parks and playgrounds. Ask businesses to add native plantings or protect existing habitat.
Pollinators don’t have microphones, but they do have allies—you and me. Every conversation, every planted flower, and every protected patch of habitat is part of their story. And the more voices they have, the louder—and brighter—the future will be.