1. Oregon Bee License Plate

Oregon Bee License Plate

Pollinator Paradise

Over 20,000 Oregonians have committed to research to keep Oregon's honey bees healthy and to build Oregon's Bee Atlas by purchasing and renewing a Pollinator Paradise license plate. These special plates are available at all Oregon DMV branches.

Featuring two of Oregon’s most iconic bees, the managed honey bee and the wild yellow-faced bumble bee, the Pollinator Paradise License Plate is designed to showcase the unique Oregon landscape of natural areas, agricultural fields, and backyard gardens that help support the state’s over 600 species of bees. The plate design centers around a field of red clover – a majestic sight that can be found dotting the rolling hills of Oregon’s Willamette and Grande Ronde valleys.  Oregon produces over a quarter of the U.S. supply of red clover seed. Both managed and wild bees pollinate this crop. The nectar and pollen, in turn, is a key food source for bees. This same interrelationship can be seen in every corner of the state, in coastal cranberry bogs, Rogue Valley pear orchards, high desert carrot seed fields, Columbia River Gorge sweet cherry orchards and Hermiston melon fields.

The plates cost $40 to order or renew, with more than $35 of each sale going directly to the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University for the Oregon Bee Atlas and Honey Bee Research and Extension program. 

We appreciate your support!
  • 22,783 plates issued!

Want Your Own?

The plates are currently available at Oregon DMV.

Support from Oregonians such as yourself will help safeguard Oregon bees now and in the future!

Revenue from Pollinator Paradise license plate sales and renewals is making the following projects possible:

2026
2025
  • Gorman, M., Engler, J.D., Jackson, A.S, Coleman, P., Stanton, M., & Best, L.R. (2025). Bees of the Pacific Northwest: Key to species for Lasioglossum subgenera Lasioglossum and Leuchalictus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Version 1, February 2025. Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/1183
  • Carlson, E. A., Best, L., Melathopoulos, A., Namin, S. M., & Sagili, R. (2025). A risk based pollination network for non-Apis bees demonstrates the importance of understory plant contamination. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14519.
2024
  • Melittoflora website (February 2024 – version 1.0) – the first ever listing of bee-plant interactions on a statewide level.
  • Oregon Bee Atlas data for 2018-2023 (February 2024). The funds helped in the curation of this massive dataset, which includes over 105,854 new bee occurrence records for the state. 
  • Engler, J.D., Gorman, M., Cappaert, D., Stanton, M., Best, L.R., Jackson, A.S. (2024). Bees of the Pacific Northwest: key to Lasioglossum Species for Females of the Subgenera Hemihalictus, Sphecodogastra, and Evylaeus in Oregon (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Version 1, February 2024. Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/1165
2023
  • Best, L.R., Dunlap, J.B., Jackson, A.S., & Rivers, J.W. (2023). Bees of the Pacific Northwest: key to genera (Hymenoptera: Anthophila). Version 1, October 2023. Fish and Wildlife Habitat in Managed Forests Research Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/1166
  • Best, L.R., Jackson, A.S., Rivers, J.W., & Williams, P.H. (2023). Bees of the Pacific Northwest: key to bumble bee species for males (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus). Version 1, October 2023. Fish and Wildlife Habitat in Managed Forests Research Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/1165
  • Best, L.R., Dunlap, J.B., Jackson, A.S., Rivers, J.W., & Williams, P.H. (2023). Bees of the Pacific Northwest: Key to bumble bee species for females (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus). Version 1, October 2023. Fish and Wildlife Habitat in Managed Forests Research Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/1164

About the Artist

Marek Stanton is a high school student at Summit Learning Charter School in Estacada Oregon. In addition to a lifelong love of art and color Marek is also a skilled entomologist and the youngest member of the Master Melittologist Program at Oregon State University.

Read more about Marek and learn more about how Oregon's first pollinator license plate came to be.

Did You Know Oregon is a Leader Nationally When it Comes to Bee Research?

  • First-of-its-kind native bee survey seeking out new species and which plants they rely on (Oregon Bee Atlas).
  • World leading lab investigating how to optimize honey bee nutrition.
  • Collaborative research with beekeepers and growers to minimize impacts of pesticides on bees during pollination.
  • Dedicated research to help landscapers and gardeners improve bee habitat in urban areas.
  • On-the-ground applied research to make it easier for farmers, ranchers, and forest managers to create bee habitat on private and public lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Head to any Oregon DMV office to pick up your Pollinator Paradise plate. 

In addition to regular title, registration, and plate fees, the specialty pollinator plate has a $40 surcharge due when you first order the plate and at each registration renewal. The surcharge is the same amount for four-year or two-year registration periods. Additionally, you will need to pay a one-time plate fee and plate replacement fee. 

More information on DMV fees is available on the DMVs website.

Yes! Like other Oregon license plates, the pollinator plate may be customized for an additional DMV charge. You can apply for custom plate configurations at:
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/forms/dmv/205fill.pdf

Yes, you can maintain your current custom 6-character configuration on a pollinator plate, for an additional DMV charge. 

Souvenir plates are not available. Pollinator plates are only available with passenger vehicles registered in the State of Oregon. 

Yes, each time you renew your plates you will be charged a $40 surcharge in additional to DMV’s regular renewal fees. Of this charge, $35 will go directly to support pollinator programs in the Horticulture Department at Oregon State University and $5 will be retained by the DMV.

We just completed an auction for the low numbers (BZ00001-BZ00020) and raised $27,000 for the "Jerry and Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment" and "NW Apiculture Endowment", whose mission is to support long term research at Oregon State University into wild bees and honey bees in Oregon. Those are the only plate numbers that we can pre-assign. When you pick up a plate at DMV you will be issued which ever number they have in their local inventory.
 

Helping the Honey Bee at the Honey Bee Lab

In the News:

Oregon Field Guide

OSU 

Other News

Pollinator Partnerships