Protecting Pollinators in Urban Landscapes
This month I attended the Protecting Pollinators in Urban Landscapes conference in Traverse City, Michigan. This conference had sessions on research, management, outreach and advocacy on pollinators, especially native bees. I wanted to share some of the major take home messages that really stood out to me.
- We still need to increase conservation efforts for native bees and not only the honey bee.
- To protect bee diversity, we need to think about human diversity. Bee conservation needs to be inclusive and we need to get our messages out to people from all walks of life.
- Clean-cut, green-grass backyard lawns are like concrete for bees. We can create pollinator habitat and still have an aesthetically pleasing backyards. How do we get this message out?
- Everyone can make a difference in pollinator conservation! Even the smallest pollinator-friendly garden will help provide food, shelter and water for individual bees and other pollinators.
I presented a poster at the at the conference on the Native Bee Watch research project. I thoroughly enjoy talking about the research and the efforts of the citizen scientists that help make this project succeed! It was well-received and I talked to people that are curious about getting citizen scientists involved in their projects.
Thank you to all the citizen scientists involved in this project and for all of you being stewards for pollinators!
