Honey bee pollination alone adds $15 billion in value to US crops each year, wrote John Holdren, one of President Barack Obama's main science advisors.
But pollinators are struggling, for a variety of reasons, and beekeepers last year reported losing 40 percent of their honey bee colonies, mostly in winter, Holdren wrote in a blog on the White House website.
Scientists point to a series of factors as causing the decline: sickness, parasites, dwindling food sources and pesticides.
To address the problem the White House aims to limit the mortality of bee colonies in winter to a maximum of 15 percent over 10 years.
It also aims to restore 2.8 million hectares of habitat for these insects over the next five years through federal intervention and partnerships between the public and private sectors.
As for the Monarch butterflies, the plan is designed to boost their population over the next five years in a 6-hectare span of forest in Mexico, in collaboration with the government of that country.
Scientists say growing just one crop on a large stretch of land denies bees a source of food.
The plan is based on an "all hands on deck" approach including engagement of citizens and communities and the forging of public-private partnerships.
"Increasing the quantity and quality of habitat for pollinators is a major part of this effort -- with actions ranging from the construction of pollinator gardens at Federal buildings to the restoration of millions of acres of Federally managed lands and similar actions on private lands," Holdren wrote.