To address the growing interest and expressed need for pollinator management strategies a special pollinator symposium was held at the 2017 annual conference of the Natural Areas Association, curated by William Carromero of the US Forest Service and Lisa Smith of the Natural Areas Association. The overarching goal of this symposium was to present new research and the current body of knowledge surrounding pollinator system management to practitioners, giving them the tools to better manage this essential natural resource. This synthesis, written by the presenters and participants, recapitulates the symposium with a presentation of research and review findings, and an assessment of key gaps and next steps in topic area. Pollinator management in natural areas is a broad topic. The symposium allowed us a detailed look at a subset of topics, starting the discussion on how we aim to consider pollinators in our land management decisions.