The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Description

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is a non-profit environmental organization working to protect invertebrates considered essential to biological diversity and ecosystem health. It has worked on this cause since 1971 and was reincorporated in Oregon in 1988. It is named after the extinct Xerces blue butterfly.

The society runs programs on pollinator conservation, endangered species conservation, and pesticide reduction and alternatives. It collaborates with federal and state agencies, including the US Department of Agriculture, along with scientists, land managers, educators and citizens. Its work includes applied research, advocacy, petitioning for endangered species protections such as for the monarch butterfly, public education and habitat rehabilitation.

Through its Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA initiatives, it encourages cities, towns and college campuses to create pollinator habitat, plant native species and limit unnecessary pesticide use. The society has also pursued litigation, including a successful lawsuit challenging a federal agency’s widespread pesticide use against grasshopper and cricket infestations across western states.

It operates in the United States and works alongside partner organizations on invertebrate conservation efforts more broadly.