Seven pollinator champions honored across North America

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign has named seven 2026 award winners for work in habitat conservation, education, research, and sustainable land management across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The honorees include community advocates, farmers, a native seed team, and a transmission corridor project that is restoring habitat for monarch butterflies and American bumble bees.

Why it matters: - The 2026 North American Pollinator Protection Campaign awards spotlight practical efforts that can improve habitat, food sources, and recovery conditions for pollinators across North America. - The winners show how pollinator conservation now spans cities, farms, vineyards, research sites, and utility corridors. - The recognition matters because pollinator health affects ecosystems, restoration work, and pollinator-dependent crops.

What happened: - Pollinator Partnership announced seven 2026 North American Pollinator Protection Campaign award winners. - The awards recognize work in habitat conservation, education, research, and sustainable land management. - The winners come from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. - The announcement highlights community-led habitat work in Mexico, native seed production in Oregon, and pollinator-friendly vineyard management in Canada.

The details: - Debra Mackey won the Pollinator Advocate Award for the U.S. after leading the Marion County Master Gardener Pollinator Census Team in Florida. - Mackey helped expand Florida’s participation in the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, a multistate community science effort that tracks pollinator populations. - Emily McLean won the Pollinator Advocate Award for Canada after helping establish Halifax as a Bee City and Dalhousie University as a Bee Campus. - McLean recently completed a Master of Environmental Studies and has started a PhD focused on ground-nesting bees. - Evelyn Pinot Campos won the Pollinator Advocate Award for Mexico as founder of Urban Pollinators in the Soconusco region of Chiapas. - Urban Pollinators converts underused green spaces into habitat for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other local pollinators. - Urban Pollinators is the first pollinator habitat network in Chiapas and aims to connect more gardens into the Ts’unu Biological Corridor. - The Institute for Applied Ecology's Native Seed Farm Team won the Pollinator Farmer-Rancher Award for the U.S. - The team manages the NW Native Seed Farm, a three-acre native seed production operation in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. - The farm supplies ecologically appropriate native plant seeds for restoration projects across the Pacific Northwest. - The seed supply supports nectar and host plants used by endangered butterflies, including Fender’s blue butterfly. - Ed Hughes of Hughes Family Vineyards won the Pollinator Farmer-Rancher Award for Canada. - Hughes has grown grapes and other fruit crops in Niagara, Ontario, since 1993. - The vineyard supports pollinator health through native flowering hedgerows, permanent cover crops, Integrated Pest Management, and research participation. - Maria Guadalupe Vega Mendoza won the Pollinator Farmer-Rancher Award for Mexico. - Vega Mendoza co-founded Centro de Agricultura Regenerativa de la Huasteca and Las Meliponas Forest Preserve in El Chino, SLP, Mexico. - The center promotes regenerative practices and helps farmers move from sugarcane monoculture to pollinator-dependent perennial crops. - The Pollinator Electric Power Award went to the Tiffin Corridor Pollinator Project. - Hydro One Networks Inc., World Wildlife Fund Canada, and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority partner on the project. - The project is restoring 45 hectares of habitat along a high-voltage transmission corridor in Ontario using native seed. - Planting began in 2024. - Early monitoring found signs of remnant grassland returning and documented use by monarch butterflies and American bumble bees. - Pollinator Partnership was established in 1997 and says it is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated exclusively to pollinating animals. - The organization manages NAPPC and works on education, conservation, restoration, policy, and research. - Pollinator Partnership accepts support through grants, gifts, memberships, and donations. More information

Between the lines: - The award list suggests pollinator conservation is becoming more embedded in everyday land management rather than treated as a standalone environmental effort. - The range of winners also points to a broad strategy: public education, habitat connectivity, agricultural practices, native seed supply, and infrastructure corridor restoration. - The transmission corridor project is a notable example of using utility land for ecological recovery while maintaining its primary purpose.

What's next: - The featured projects are likely to continue expanding habitat, monitoring pollinator response, and building local capacity. - The Ts’unu Biological Corridor concept depends on adding more pollinator gardens across Chiapas. - The Tiffin Corridor project will continue multi-year ecological monitoring after its 2024 planting. - Pollinator Partnership will keep using NAPPC to recognize and promote pollinator conservation work across the continent.

The bottom line: - The 2026 NAPPC winners show that pollinator protection can be advanced through small-scale community action and large landscape projects alike.