(upbeat music) - The Utah Pollinator Habitat Program is a free statewide program offering pollinator-friendly plants to boost habitats.

Here to tell us more, is Liz Hamilton.

Welcome, Liz.

- Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

- So tell me about what's going on with these pollinator insects.

- Yeah, so our native pollinators are in decline just through fragmentation, which is disruption of existing habitat.

And other, as our species increases, their species' availability decreases.

And so we're just working with this program to try and increase habitat so that they have more places to forage and more places to nest.

- A lot of people think of this, and one of the first things that comes to mind are the bees, but you're saying the focus is on more than just bees, right?

- Yeah.

So we're really focused on not just honeybees, but also our native pollinators.

So that's our bumblebees, our Mason bees.

Also butterflies, hoverflies, moths.

They're all just as important, and this program aims to provide them with the forage that they need so that we can increase their populations.

- And so people can get involved in this by applying for the program?

- Absolutely.

So our application process is open right now.

It opened March 1st, and it closes April 15th.

So we had about 45 days to apply.

Now we're down to about 39.

And so we're moving pretty quickly.

So applications are first come, first serve.

But we do award about a 75% award rate every year.

And so what that means is you have a really good chance of applying.

- [Liz] What comes with that once they're approved or awarded into the program?

- Yeah.

So we grow out those plants for them.

So they apply.

When they apply, they map their space where they would like to put in native pollinator habitat.

And what that does is it generates on our end a number of plants that they could put in that space.

So we take that number, and we grow those plants out.

And then in September, after we've grown them all out, we send them a date and a time to come pick those plants up.

And those plants are available to them there.

So they get live, free, native-only plants for their native pollinator species.

- Oh, that's incredible.

I'm so happy you are providing this service for the community and also for the bugs as well, the pollinators.

Thank you so much for being here.

And if you would like to learn more about this program and how you can apply, it's the Utah Pollinator Habitat Program.

Applications are open right now, all the way through April 15th.

But like she said, Liz said, it's first come, first serve, so don't delay in applying.

Just head to ag.utah.gov for more information.

And thank you so much for being here with us today.

I'm Liz Adeola, and this is "Contact".

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