Love our local pollinators? Now you can put your honey where your mouth is and buy a themed Oregon license plate to support the state’s 600+ bee species.
The new Pollinator Paradise license plate is a colorful ode to some of our state’s hardest and smallest workers. It was designed by 16-year-old Marek Stanton of Estacada (who happens to bee an entomologist and volunteer with the Oregon Bee Atlas ) and features a field of red clover and two bees: the managed honey bee and the wild yellow-faced bumble bee. Fun fact: Oregon produces more than 25% of the national supply of red clover seed — and no other crop supports a higher diversity of bumble bees.
Presales of the Pollinator Paradise plates are currently underway. Each plate costs $40 (not including title, registration, and plate fees) and sends $35 to Oregon State University’s Pollinator Health Lab and Honey Bee Lab programs. Production won’t begin until 3,000 presale vouchers are sold (the count at the time this story was written was 2,016).