About Project Wingspan
Project Wingspan (PW) is a multi-year landscape-scale project supported by donations, sponsorships, and several grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to the non-profit Pollinator Partnership. Pollinator Partnership is working with a coalition of partners and an amazing team of dedicated volunteers to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of pollinator habitat across the Midwest and Great Lakes Region to support imperiled native pollinators and the vital habitat on which they depend.
Project Wingspan seeks to increase monarch, rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB), and other pollinator habitat. Project Wingspan began as a volunteer seed collection program based off of the success of our Monarch Wings Across the Eastern Broadleaf Forest effort but has since expanded to working with land stewards across a variety of public, private, agricultural, and other land types to educate about pollinator practices and help create, enhance, or restore pollinator habitat within the landscape. This is achieved by providing support, training, technical resources, and supplementary plant materials to interested participants throughout our focus region. The goal is to work with volunteers and partners to enhance and secure high-quality habitat that will support monarchs, RPBBs, and other wildlife.
Project Wingspan Current Projects
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Project Wingspan: Community Connections
Project Wingspan: Community Connections utilizes teams of trained seed collection volunteers to collect seed that will be distributed to ongoing habitat conservation work to create more resilient habitats. If you are interested in becoming a trained seed collection volunteer, acting as a collection site, receiving free native seeds or plugs, or learning more about how you can get involved in pollinator conservation in your community visit the Project Wingspan Community connections page
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Project Wingspan: Agriculture Training and Support
Project Wingspan: Agriculture Training and Support (ATS)focuses on providing technical workshops for farmers and other agricultural landowners and managers, including new farmers, minority populations, women, and veterans. If you are a farmer or producer interested in Farm Bill programs that help create, protect, and enhance their habitats within working lands or one-on-one technical consultation/support that is tailored to your specific agribusiness type, site characteristics, and available resources visit the Project Wingspan: ATS webpage
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Project Wingspan: Chicagoland
Project Wingspan Chicagoland is a native plant materials development program created to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of habitat for imperiled native pollinators of the greater Chicago Wilderness Region including the monarch butterfly, the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, and a plethora of other native pollinating species. The program addresses threats of species extirpation from habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation by amplifying the supply of local genotype native seed to support habitat enhancement and restoration efforts.
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Monarch Wings Across the Eastern Broadleaf Forest
In 2016, Pollinator Partnership created Monarch Wings Across the Eastern Broadleaf Forest, a multi-state, ecoregional approach to support monarch conservation efforts. This initiative formed an amazing set of partners across the project areas Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio, had incredible on the ground impacts, and was the pilot program for all following Project Wingspan initiatives.
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Project Wingspan
Project Wingspan: Landscape Enhancement for Imperiled Pollinators of the Midwest (PW) set out to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of monarch, rusty patched bumble bee, and other imperiled pollinator habitat throughout eight states within the Midwest and Great Lakes region by addressing the shortage of commercially available regionally appropriate plant materials and the knowledge of programs, practices, and support that can help land stewards on their habitat journey.
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Project Wingspan: Expansion and Connectivity (PWEC)
In collaboration with professional land managers and conservation scientists from throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes region, Project Wingspan: Expansion and Connectivity created a 5-part workshop series to increase the success of native habitat restoration and management efforts by offering land managers and stewards advanced educational support, recent findings from scientific field research, guidance on current best management practices, and practical solutions to ‘real-world’ habitat management obstacles.
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Project Wingspan: Agricultural Lands (PWAL)
Project Wingspan: Agricultural Lands (PWAL) approached the deficit of critical habitat for the monarch butterfly, rusty patched bumble bee, and other imperiled pollinators by addressing the shortage of commercially available, regionally appropriate plant materials and the knowledge of programs, practices, and support that can help land stewards on their habitat journey.
Project Wingspan Past Projects
