National Pollinator Week runs June 21–27, 2027, a time to celebrate the bees, butterflies, bats and other animals that help plants make seeds and fruit. Most of what’s on your plate owes something to them.
A Week in Late June
Every year in the second half of June, from a Monday through the following Sunday. It ran June 22 to 28 in 2026 and is set for June 21 to 27 in 2027.
Pollinator Partnership, a nonprofit devoted to pollinators, started it and still runs it. The group has already posted June 19 to 25 for 2028.
Senators have backed many of the weeks with resolutions, but the organizers set the calendar.
A Senate Vote and a Growing Week
It began with a Senate resolution. S. Res. 580, submitted by Senator Chambliss of Georgia, passed on September 21, 2006.
That resolution named June 24 to 30, 2007, as the first National Pollinator Week.
Dates in the group’s own materials vary. Its website claims a 2007 Senate approval, while its 2026 toolkit points to 2008.
Since then it has spread well beyond the U.S. Celebrations now run worldwide, and a pollinator bioblitz spans the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
A full Pollinator Month of events has also grown around it.
Renewals keep coming. A 2026 resolution, S. Res. 782, named June 22 to 28 that year.
Each year has a theme. For 2026 it was “Life on a Leaf: Celebrating Caterpillars and Host Plants,” a nod to the plants that feed butterfly and moth larvae.
Why Pollinators Matter
Food is the big reason. Roughly a third of the bites Americans eat depend on pollinators, the 2006 resolution said.
At least 80% of flowering plants rely on their help to reproduce, both Senate texts say. Pollinator Partnership puts the share of flowering species that need animal pollinators at about 75%.
Honeybees alone pollinated an estimated $14.6 billion in U.S. crops a year on more than 2 million acres, the first resolution noted.
Native pollinators add more than $18 billion a year in crop revenue, according to the 2026 resolution. More than 100 crops need or benefit from them.
Many are in trouble. More than 70 native pollinator species are federally listed as threatened or endangered, including the rusty patched bumble bee.
Butterflies are on that list too. The Dakota skipper and the Powesheik skipperling were added within the past decade, the 2026 resolution notes.
Monarchs show how fast numbers can fall. The western population dropped about 99%, from nearly 10 million in the 1980s to fewer than 2,000 in 2020.
Host plants matter as much as flowers. Hundreds of North American butterfly and moth species rely on just one or two plants to raise their young.
Help a Pollinator
You don’t need acres. A pot of native flowers on a balcony can feed bees for weeks.
Kids can join in at school. Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Smart School Garden Kit has 10 lesson plans for grades 3 to 6.
- Plant native flowers and host plants, such as milkweed for monarchs.
- Cut back on pesticides, especially on plants in bloom.
- Build or buy a native bee house for your garden.
- Register your yard as a Bee Friendly Garden with Pollinator Partnership.
- Visit a native plant sale or pollinator festival near you.
- Leave a patch of bare soil and some fallen leaves for ground-nesting bees.
- Ask a local landmark to light up for the week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are honeybees the only pollinators?
No. Native bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and beetles all pollinate.
Who organizes Pollinator Week?
Pollinator Partnership, with help from partners around the world.
What is a host plant?
A plant that caterpillars feed on while they grow.