The following schedule is from the 72nd Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies which was held October 21-24, 2018 in Mobile, Alabama.
AUTHORS: Dennis L. Krusac, USDA Forest Service; Jacqueline J. Belwood, Georgia Highlands College
ABSTRACT: Global pollinator populations are in decline for many reasons including habitat loss and overuse of pesticides. The Greater Atlanta Pollinator Partnership (GAPP) was initiated in 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia, because the housing boom of the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the loss of 22 ha/day of green space and a corresponding increase of 11 ha/day of impervious surfaces in this metropolitan area. Over 20-years, approximately 162,000 ha of pollinator-friendly native green space/tree canopy have been lost with an increase of 81,000 ha of impervious surface. Goals of the GAPP are to encourage restoration, development, and registration of pollinator habitat at an ecologically significant landscape scale. Consequently, our project focuses on a 40-km radius area around downtown Atlanta comprising nearly 500,000 ha of potential pollinator habitat and includes all major public lands and thousands of individual residences. Efforts focus on restoring pollinator-friendly habitat and educating the public through formal and informal programs. Key components of the GAPP include using native species when available, rescuing native plants from construction sites, controlling invasive species, establishing community gardens, citizen science projects, conservation, education, and research. The GAPP website (http://gapp.org/) is critical to our online garden registration and mapping to track garden establishment, assess habitat development trends, provide online educational materials, and provide focus to the effort through a newsletter. Several organizations have expressed interest in using the GAPP as a model for their citizen-based pollinator conservation efforts. Funding for the GAPP is limited, so synergy through partnerships is the key to success.
