New Virginia License Plates to Promote Pollinator Conservation

Virginia is poised to become the very first state with a license plate promoting pollinators! This is a project I've been working on since last year, and we're still looking for more pollinator enthusiasts to sign up.

If you have a a passion for pollinators (insects and animals that carry pollen from one plant to another), soon you will be able to display your enthusiasm with a “Protect Pollinators” license plate. The plate design features native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and honeybees, as well as Virginia native plants and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

So far we’ve had a lot of interest from beekeepers, master gardeners, master naturalists and Audubon Society members. The goal of the plate is to promote a statewide dialog about the conservation of these valuable species and the essential role they play in our food supply and ecosystem.

For the plate to become available, we must meet Virginia’s requirement of collecting 450 completed applications and plate fees. Two hundred applications have already been submitted. Drivers interested in the Pollinator Plates can visit our official website at www.pollinatorplates.com and complete the application process online or by postal mail.

The plates cost $10 annually, or $20 for a personalized plate. Once enough applications are collected, the plates will be introduced into the Virginia General Assembly. After the plates are passed into law, the DMV must approve the design- which we've been told they will, unless the numbers are too difficult to read, or the design is too controversial.

I decided to design a special license plate for pollinators when I moved to Virginia in 2010 and noticed the wide variety of plates available to drivers. I assumed with so many wildlife groups being represented, we'd have a plate specifically for pollinators — but we don't. Pollinators are quite possibly the most important group of wildlife- and often the least talked about — and I hope this new license plate will bring them some much needed recognition.

About one-third of the food we eat depends on pollination by a pollinator. Honeybees and native bees (such as bumblebees, orchard mason bees, and sweat bees) are the most efficient at this indispensable process. The decline of honeybees has been widely publicized, but many are not aware that native bees and other pollinators are in decline, too.

Native pollinators are especially important because they're crucial for our ecosystems to thrive. Wild flowers need to be pollinated to make seeds, which are eaten by birds and small animals, which are then eaten by larger animals, and allow the food chain to sustain.

For more information, you can email pollinatorplates@gmail.com. You can also visit the website at www.pollinatorplates.com.