PSC Star Stewards

Registration for Pollinator Partnership’s 2025 Pollinator Steward Certification program is right around the corner! We wanted to highlight a few especially impactful stewards in our new Star Steward series leading up to next year’s program.

Cathy Stevens

This summer, Cathy and her team transformed a small flower bed into a vibrant 20x19 ft habitat, rescuing daylilies and a rose bush, and creating a butterfly-friendly garden with various plants. Her team diligently maintained it through the Pollinator Stewardship program, documenting their findings on SEEK and iNaturalist. They also expanded their efforts to their manufacturing plant in Greenfield, Ohio, overcoming drought challenges to beautify the area with more native plants. For outreach, they created conservation slides for their 180 associates, and engaged local manufacturing plants during Pollinator Week. Additionally, they launched the 'Sustainable Synergy' newsletter to promote Weastec's eco-friendly initiatives, focusing on biodiversity, CO2 reduction, and resource conservation, driving their green revolution forward.

Thanks to PSC, Cathy and her team were able to make informed decisions about plant selections for their habitat, taking into account the needs of pollinators, native species in their region, and overwintering requirements in Ohio.

Chandler Bertoli

Chandler planted pollinator-friendly seeds and perennials in her front yard and has enjoyed watching so many pollinators spending time in their new habitat. Her favorite thing, however, is the positive response she has received from neighbors. People are asking how to create habitat, taking photos and telling her that her yard is an inspiration. She loves sharing information (and seeds) with her community. In addition to her yard habitat, she created a container garden business "Alpine Charm" where she plants pollinator-friendly planters and hanging baskets for homes and businesses. These small habitats help people be stewards of their own area (even a small porch or apartment balcony). Her clients love experiencing visits from bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators. Chandler is also spearheading a re-vamp of her son's elementary school garden, where they will be creating a pollinator garden and using the space for science and emotional wellbeing opportunities.

Thanks to PSC, Chandler learned about the importance of selecting native flowers with different shapes and bloom times, and the importance of leaving space for pollinator nesting sites.

Adam Barnes

Adam is the founder and lead coordinator for a volunteer stewardship group called Rewilders. Under Rewilders, he has been planting pollinator habitat in Toronto for four years. To this point, Rewilders has planted 10 gardens on public land which they call the 1km Pollinator Pathway. Rewilders has also hosted planting events, organized a seed sitters group, and had a native plant giveaway at their local farmer's market where they gave away approximately 900 plants to the community. Adam also helps two local high schools with their pollinator gardens, sits on the Project Swallowtail Steering Committee, and volunteers with NANPS LEAF, and the Butterflyway Project.

Thanks to PSC, Adam has learned more about the native plant community in his neighborhood.

Alfredo Mejía and Nelly González

Alfredo and Nelly have been working on multiple projects related to pollinators. They recently held a workshop to obtain their certification and supported environmental education events with organizations that they collaborate with. They participated as speakers celebrating "World Bee Day" collaborating with the Unidad de Biodiversidad, a research unit attached to the state university (USAC). Together, Alfredo and Nelly are a Pollinator Steward Certified team!

Thanks to PSC, Alfredo and Nelly better understand pollinators and their ecological relationships, and their interaction with gardens and crops.

Chloe Markovits

Chloe channels her passion for pollinators through two main outlets. As a full-time landscape horticulturist at Fruits to Fronds LLC in Seattle, she uses her Pollinator Steward Certification to guide plant selection for residential gardens, creating and maintaining insect-friendly habitats across the city. Additionally, she has trained coworkers to become skilled insect naturalists, promoting eco-friendly gardening practices by identifying and protecting ground-nesting bee habitats and avoiding pesticide use. Furthermore, she conducts public outreach, reaching over 200k people on Instagram and TikTok. This summer, she expanded her efforts by hosting 'Pollinator Safaris' in Seattle, inspired by time with the Tufts Pollinator Initiative and her PSC training. During these workshops, she teaches adults and children how to identify and observe pollinators through catch-and-release activities, fostering a community of passionate stewards.

Thanks to PSC, Chloe has learned to dispel common myths and misconceptions about pollinators, transforming insect apprehension into appreciation among her clients and community.

Beth Ames

Beth planted a 3-acre wildflower meadow on her 15-acre property alongside the Mississinewa River in Miami County, Indiana. She named the area Prelise Meadow in memory of her friend. In March of 2024, Beth reseeded the area with bee and butterfly pollinator mixes. Birds, bees, butterflies, moths, bats, bunnies, deer, and even baby frogs have been seen, and many photographers also enjoy the beauty of the meadow.

Thanks to PSC, Beth learned about the benefits of planting quality habitat to support pollinators.

Krystal Brideau

Krystal started creating pollinator habitat on her property actively this year. As a steward, she started a pilot project where she encouraged the residents in her county to also join in by adding at least one new native plant to their gardens. According to Krystal, "The population here is about 60,000 people. If each one added just one new native plant to their lawns, gardens, balconies each year, imagine the difference it would make!" Krystal also raised awareness about pollinators via nine different outreach events, partnerships with other organizations, as well as a social media presence. She partnered with Huron County Library to add native seeds to their seed library that residents can 'borrow' for free.

Thanks to PSC, Krystal gained a far greater appreciation for the many different types of pollinators and can now confidently tell the difference between them.

Anya Peters

Anya created a garden from scratch, starting off with nothing but grass and a few dying shrubs when she moved into her house a year ago. She now has a successful pollinator garden with many native plants, and has also included signs in her garden helping people understand why it's important to leave the leaves, avoid discarding seedy heads (like Echinacea), and why there are decaying logs throughout her yard. She started posting her own informational videos on TikTok, and has also joined Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Gardening program. In August, Anya will be hosting a plant walk and discussion on how to be more mindful of our land and be the best stewards that we can be.

Thanks to PSC, Anya gained the confidence to search for native specialist host plants to include in her habitat. She enjoyed learning about bees, moths, butterflies, and generalist versus specialist pollinators.