Summary of the annual Kentucky Pollinator Stakeholder meeting September 16,2025
The meeting was held at Bernheim Forest and Arboretum and was well attended. There were nine speakers from various groups including University of Kentucky , Kentucky State University, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet , Roundstone Seed company, Fish and Wildlife Services, the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves, and East Kentucky Power Cooperative, and Bernheim. Some of the highlights are listed below.
We enjoyed walking about the 36-acre pollinator prairie that boasts of 86 native plant species and 16 native grass species.
Fish and Wildlife provided sobering statistics on the Monarch population which had its second lowest population in 2024 since record keeping began. Further, there is postulation of a greater than 50% chance of Monarch extinction by 2080. The effort to have Monarchs listed as a threatened species has reached the final stages of approval and a decision is expected from the Federal government in December of this year.
Kentucky Nature Preserves has started a statewide survey of native bees, which has never been performed in Kentucky.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet continues to build pollinator plots along its highways and in 2024 won the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Roadside Management award. They have adjusted mowing levels to 8-12” in pollinator plots and reduced mowing to once yearly in these areas as well.