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Georgeson Botanical Garden celebrates pollinators

A new exhibit at Georgeson Botanical Garden highlights the role of pollinators: bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, moths, wasps and flies. 

To reproduce, about 75% of all flowering plant species need animal pollinators, giving them a critical role in our food systems and environment.

The garden has a new pollinator-friendly garden bed, panels with pollinator information from the Smithsonian Institution, and panels with images of local pollinating insects.

The Georgeson Botanical Garden has designated June 28 as Pollinator Day. From noon to 2:30 p.m., visitors can view pollinator specimens provided by Derek Sikes, the insects curator at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Biologist Amal Ajmi will lead a guided pollinator tour at 1 p.m. Visitors can also become citizen scientists by participating in the iNaturalist 2022 Midnight Sun Pollinator Challenge or take part in a pollinator scavenger hunt. 

The exhibit was made possible with support from the city of Fairbanks and College Rotary, as well as help from the Smithsonian Institution, the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District, UA Museum of the North and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

For more information, visit georgesonbotanicalgarden.org. The garden is located at 2180 West Tanana Drive in Fairbanks.

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