Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Key Research, Technical Assistance, and Education Strengths

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. As a science-based organization, we both conduct our own research and rely upon the most up-to-date information to guide our conservation work. Our key program areas are: pollinator conservation, endangered species conservation, and reducing pesticide use and impacts.

The Xerces Society is a science-based nonprofit organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to protect the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. We work with diverse partners that include scientists, federal and state agency staff, land managers, educators, policymakers, farmers, and community members. By utilizing applied research, providing educational resources, collaborating on the implementation of federal conservation programs and policies, engaging in advocacy, and building community, we endeavor to make meaningful long-term conservation a reality.

Founded in 1971, our name comes from the now extinct Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces), the first known butterfly to go extinct in North America as a result of human activities. For 50 years, we have worked to prevent this from happening again by protecting endangered species and their habitats, producing ground-breaking publications, conducting research on invertebrate habitat needs and population status, training thousands of farmers and land managers to conserve habitat, and raising awareness about the importance and plights of invertebrates in forests, prairies, deserts, and rivers.

We work to address the root causes of invertebrate declines through applied research and by providing technical assistance and education to federal land managers, agencies, and their partners. Our current projects are focused on advancing the following goals:

1. Creating abundant pollinator habitat across all landscapes: By restoring and protecting networks of interconnected, pesticide-protected habitats across landscapes—from farms and natural areas to urban yards and parks—we can help these important animals thrive.
2. Conserving our most at-risk species: We work on behalf of threatened, endangered, and at-risk invertebrates. By identifying and studying priority species for conservation, we are able to provide conservation guidance, restore and protect critical habitat, and advocate for the protections the deserve.
3. Reducing use of pesticides: We not only work to reduce the use of specific pesticides that are harmful to animals and the environment, but to reduce people’s overall reliance on pesticides, both in agricultural and urbanized landscapes.
4. Guiding solutions through science: By translating complex science, we help shape policies an practices so that farmers, government agencies, policy makers, and backyard gardeners can make informed decisions and understand how they can be part of the solution to stop and reverse invertebrate declines.
5. Educating and engaging people to be part of the solution: Through public talks, events, workshops and presentations, we give people the knowledge they need to take actions that benefit invertebrates. We work with a diversity of people in cities, towns and rural areas, and we have recently refocused our efforts on those from the vulnerable communities that have borne the greatest impacts of environmental degradation.
6. Helping invertebrates adapt to a changing climate: For long-lasting change, we consider future climate scenarios in all that we do.