In this project we are documenting observations of pollinators and flowers within the Eldorado National Forest including areas burned in the King fire and unburned habitat. To get started, try snapping a picture of the next flower and/or pollinator (bee, butterfly, hummingbirds) you encounter. Upload the observation using the app available for iPhone and Android phones. Look through the journal posts and help identify and comment on our growing number of observations that document pollinator distributions.

A recent U.N.-sponsored report concluded that 40% of invertebrate pollinator species and 16% of vertebrate pollinator species are threatened with extinction, raising serious concerns regarding the future of the planet’s food crops, 75% of which depend on pollinators. Although the benefits to crops and ecosystems that pollinators provide are well documented (National Research Council 2007), the population and community dynamics and resource requirements of native pollinators in forested habitats remain largely unknown. Recognition of the importance of these ecosystem services and evidence suggesting that many native pollinators are in decline led to the Presidential Memorandum and Pollinator Research Action Plan (2015), calling for research to understand, prevent and recover from pollinator losses by increasing and improving pollinator habitat in light of climate change. Considering the forecast of a growing incidence of large and high severity fires in western forests, and the heightened vulnerability of species that depend on ephemeral and often unpredictable blooms due to climate-driven phenological shifts, it is of utmost importance to understand how high severity fire impacts pollinator resources and, in turn, pollinator populations. less ↑