The main goals of the Community Pollinator Foundation are currently to monitor and protect native solitary bumble bees in the Calgary area. Longer term goals include expansion across the province and to native butterfly, dragonfly, and bird species which act as naturally occurring pollinators in Alberta. Our primary focus of protecting and monitoring solitary bumble bees within Calgary is achieved
through community-based stewardship which includes research with Dr. Robin Owen of Mount Royal University and collaboration with the Calgary Zoo. Native pollinators are faced with serious challenges in the urban setting from habitat destruction and pesticide use. The CPF is focused on combating these issues by coordinating public awareness campaigns. Our main community initiative, the Bumble Bee Rescue and Foster Parent Program (BBRFPP), removes bumble bees from areas where they may be destroyed, delivers them to the University for tracking, and then places them with a foster family in a bee box. The Community Pollinator Foundation strives to encourage all-ages participation in supporting and saving native bee populations through educational programming and research. The BBRFPP is essential to this process. The Foundation emerged in response to increased public interest in the welfare of pollinators around the world.
