Celebrate Pollinator Week 2026: Learn, Explore, and Take Action

Here at CIG we're getting ready to celebrate Pollinator Week!  Pollinator Week is June 22 - 28, 2026 this year - and is an annual celebration of pollinators led by the Pollinator Partnership.  Pollinators are animals that move pollen between plants - and there are so many kinds! Often people immediately think of bees - but pollinators include many different kinds of insects, birds, bats, and even some small mammals! Learn more about the different kinds of pollinators and how to help protect them.

Here are some ways that you can learn more and take action during Pollinator Week: 

Create or enhance habitat. The Cornell University Pollinator Network says that "the best way to support pollinator communities is by providing habitat." Habitat is a fancy way of saying places to live and food to eat. The network has great guides on making a bee friendly backyard or creating a pollinator garden. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation also has great information, guides, and plant lists to learn more about building and maintaining pollinator habitat for different ecoregions and types of land, such as native plant lists to support pollinators in NE US or the guide/checklist for evaluating pollinator habitat in urban yards and parks. Pollinators aren't just bees and bugs though! Check out the National Audubon Society Plants for Birds initiative, to learn more about creating habitat for birds too. 

Do less. It might sound counterintuitive but doing less can achieve more! Here specifically this means less as in reducing mowing and reducing pesticides that can harm pollinators. Instead of 'No Mow May' and then returning to frequent and intensive management, the Xerces Society encourages year-round ways to turn a lawn into habitat, including less mowing all year. They even have a 'low mow zone' printable sign to help educate passersby. And using integrated pest management can help pollinators too.

No yard? No problem! There are LOTS of ways to appreciate and advocate for wild pollinators. Some additional ways to get involved include: 

Learn more about the biodiversity all around us. Did you know New York is home to an estimated 450 wild bee species??  Check out this Xerces guide to bee morphospecies (a way of describing types of groups) to learn more about identifying bees that you see - or their cheat sheet for butterfly families!  Local library branches also have identification guides you can borrow.

Observe pollinators around you - and share photos and observations on iNaturalist, as part of the Pollinator Week 2026 Pollinator Bioblitz. And Seek is a kid/family friendly version of the program.

Read about what state and local governments are doing to protect pollinators. Did you know New York has a state pollinator plan? Read it here!  And our town, in part due to advocacy from CIG and with leadership from Supervisor Perticone, recently joined the Mayors' Monarch Pledge, an initiative by the National Wildlife Federation to encourage municipalities to take action to create and maintain pollinator habitat. Check out the Irondequoit pledge here!

How else are YOU celebrating Pollinator Week this year? Leave us a comment below!

And apropos of supporting pollinators, CIG is launching a new native plants gardening group this Wednesday, June 17 at 7 PM at the IPL, room 114. Gardens Going Native! Please consider joining us if you are available. Thanks!