Twas the night before Solstice when...
the mason bee pupae were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of flowers danced in their heads...
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As the Earth makes its annual journey around the sun and we experience the northern hemisphere's shortest day of the year, we try to imagine what Winter's dark days are like for mason bees.
Click on the photo above to enjoy this PBS video about blue orchard mason bees!
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Are you mesmerized by milkweed fluff? If so, you are not alone!
If you saved your fluff, you may want to have a holiday craft session to turn it into ornaments. Buy inexpensive clear Christmas balls from a craft store, and working inside a large paper bag, use your finger or a pencil to stuff a lot, or a little, fluff into the ball before capping it off with the hanger. (We suggest the bag because one friend discovered the cause of her printer problems was fluff that worked its way inside the rollers!)
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Photo: Nancy Lee Adamson/Xerce Society
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Reflections on 2018 from
Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA Affiliates
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Across the country, individuals and communities are realizing how vital it is to sustain pollinators.
In honor of the Winter Solstice, a time of reflection, w
e asked Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA affiliates for their favorite pollinator conservation highlight from 2018. Here are some of their responses.
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Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania - C
ody Rosenbarker,
Sustainability Learning Coordinator
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"The Center for Sustainability Education hosted an event where students brought in our native bee homes for the winter. We found mason bees and leaf-cutter bees had used our homes as well as some that we couldn’t identify. Although it seems like the mason bees had already been parasitized, we’re looking forward to putting them all out in the spring and see what comes out to pollinate our gardens!"
Photo: Dickinson College
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"The most gratifying experience Bee City USA Talent had this year occurred on the 5th of December when the Talent City Council unanimously approved the proposed Integrated Pest Management Report and Recommendation. We first began working on the goal of an Integrated Pest Management Policy in March of 2014, so it has been almost five years. Although many people are responsible for the final outcome, it was Jim Thompson's persistence that saw it to the finish."
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Talent, Oregon - Dolly Warden, Chair, Bee City USA Talent Committee
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Delta College, University Center, Michigan - Linda A. Petee, Sustainability & Risk Management Coordinator
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"Delta College was honored to join Bee Campus USA as the first and only Michigan-certified campus! With the support of the campus community, our Pollinator Alliance Team designated a section of our natural area to develop as a bee habitat trail. We’re excited to plan plantings, interpretive signage, student club projects, community-learning activities, and tours."
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Photo:
Wendy Harness, Facilities Management Administrative Assistant and Pollinator Alliance Team member, smiles as she ponders Delta College's future bee trail.
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Garden City, Idaho - Judy Snow, Chair, Bee City USA - Garden City Committee
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"The highlight of the year for me was visiting our pollinator garden and observing the hundreds (thousands?) of bees and other pollinators who showed up in only its second year. It was truly amazing to see the bees of all shapes and sizes, butterflies and hummingbirds visiting the flowers. We had leafcutter bees make their home in our bee boxes and observed solitary bee homes in the ground. It has proven to me that....If you build it, they will come!"
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"My favorite urban pollinator-related moment of the year was getting a call about a "swarm" of bees on an island of grass in the middle of a giant parking lot on the campus of Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. When I got there the island was covered in mining bee nests that look like little ant hills. Just above there were a cloud of these precious solitary bees working on creating the next generation of mining bees. By the next week you couldn't even tell they had been there."
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Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia - Jennifer Kraft Leavey, Ph.D., Principal Academic Professional, College of Sciences
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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio - Danielle Trevino, Biological Scientist
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"My most inspirational moment was from one of our smaller projects…a monarch waystation we planted with the children from the base youth center in the spring. The kids have taken such great care of it and now have a genuine interest the habitat and the many pollinators that call it home. It was such a small thing, but it is a reminder that big changes start with small steps."
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Xerces Events Coming To Your Area
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Pollinator safari in Asheville, NC. Photo: Nancy Lee Adamson/Xerces Society
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Xerces has at least one pollinator conservation presentation or workshop somewhere in the country nearly every week. Check our
Events page
for details. Here are some examples in January.
Join Ray Moranz of the Xerces Society at the
Horticulture Industries Show 2019
. H.I.S. has multiple other presentations on pollinators, and dozens of presentations on other horticultural topics.
Click here
for more information and to register for the conference.
Join Ray Moranz of the Xerces Society at the
Horticulture Industries Show 2019
(H.I.S.). H.I.S. has multiple other presentations on pollinators, and dozens of presentations on other horticultural topics.
Click here
for more information and to register.
Hosted by River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council, this annual workshop brings together central Wisconsin farmers, landowners, and community members who are enthusiastic about prairie restoration. This year, Karin Jokela, Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planner & NRCS Partner Biologist with the Xerces Society, will be speaking about the fascinating diversity of native prairie pollinators and their habitat requirements.
Click here
for more information and to register.
Join Nancy Lee Adamson of the Xerces Society and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for this session at the
Green and Growin’ Conference and Expo
to learn about plant and pollinator connections. Understanding the specialized and general connections between plants and pollinators, and the added benefits of pollinator habitat for conservation biocontrol, watershed health, clean air and clean water, can help nurseries and landscapers promote diverse native plants. Nancy will: highlight native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees that support bees, butterflies, and other wildlife, plus share ways to reduce fears of pollen allergies or stinging insects; and, share resources for better supporting some of the 500 native bees, other pollinators, and other insects that help keep garden pest populations in balance—by providing pollen, nectar, and shelter through the year.
Click here
for more information and to register.
Join Nancy Adamson of the Xerces Society and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for this session at the
Future Harvest 20th Anniversary Conference
to learn ways to better support the bees and other wildlife that help ensure abundant harvests, keep our ecosystems healthy, enrich our communities, and potentially add to your farm’s revenue stream. Native shrubs, trees, and wildflowers; cover crops; and annual flowers support pollination and pest management on farms and in home gardens. Besides vital pollen, nectar, and shelter supporting bees, butterflies, and other wildlife, plant borders can provide crucial watershed protection, plus additional income with nuts, berries, cut flowers, or ornamental cuttings. Visit with Nancy in the trade-show area, too!
Click here
for more information and to register.
To receive regular Xerces Events announcements,
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WEBINAR
Pollinator Habitat In Practice: Using IVM to Enhance Habitat on Gas Pipeline Rights-of-Way
Tuesday, January 15 at 10:00am - 11:00am CST
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Bee Campus USA - The University of Illinois at Chicago's Energy Resources Center, Rights of Way As Habitat Working Group has a regular webinar series.
This webinar will provide a vivid example of how one company, Enable Midstream, elevated their vegetation management practices above and beyond standard IVM practices to provide an Integrated Habitat Management approach benefiting both wildlife and long term maintenance. Enable has found a solid conservation partner in the National Wild Turkey Federation through the Federation's Habitat Endorsement Program to further validate their work and accomplishments.
Presenters:
Connie Oslica and Donnie Earnest, Enable Midstream Partners, will give an overview of the Integrated Vegetation Management plan implementation, benefits, and challenges.
Steve Barlow, National Wild Turkey Federation, will introduce the Federation’s new Habitat Endorsement Program, which encourages energy companies to manage linear assets for wildlife habitat.
More Webinars
The most recent webinar was "
Pollinator Habitat in Practice: Case Studies from Rural Electric Cooperatives." You can watch this excellent webinar as well as others
here
.
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Our National Network Is Growing!
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Photo: University of Connecticut Storrs
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The best part of the Bee City USA network is that we are teaching and learning from one another how to mobilize our communities for pollinator conservation.
Welcome to the most recent affiliates to join our network--Salisbury University (Maryland), Montana State University, Indiana State University, and Chattanooga State Community College (Tennessee).
Check the current
Bee City
and
Bee Campus
pages to see the most up-to-date lists of our 139 affiliates in 37 states.
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Missed our last newsletter? No worries! You can read it
here
.
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Bee City USA, An Initiative of the Xerces Society | 503-395-5367| beecityusa@xerces.org| www.beecityusa.org
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