Plant Trees this Fall to Stem Climate Change & Pollinator Decline
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Sumac trees are great for ornamental landscapes since they don't grow to more than 30 feet and they have gorgeous red fall color. Photo: Kelly Gill / Xerces Society
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By Phyllis Stiles, Bee City USA Founder & Pollinator Champion, Xerces Society
What if I told you just by planting a tree in an urban or suburban area, you could help lots of species of pollinators and birds, filter stormwater runoff before it pollutes and floods streams, reduce the urban heat island effect, and mitigate climate change? This is actually a case of too good not to be true! Almost all bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, flies, beetles, birds and bat pollinators would benefit tremendously from more native and/or blooming trees—veritable meadows in the sky.
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1st STATE WIDE CENSUS IN THE NATION
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By Becky Griffin, MPPPM Project Coordinator
On August 23rd and 24th Georgians joined together to support insect conservation by counting insects in the
Great Georgia Pollinator Census
. Led by University of Georgia Extension, this community science initiative project resulted in over 4,600 counts submitted with over 133,000 insect visits tallied and reported. Eighty-five percent of Georgia’s 159 counties had participants submit results. As far as we know this is the only census of its kind in the country and so our tagline for the project was “Be Part of Georgia Pollinator History.”
CENSUS GOALS:
1.
Create sustainable pollinator habitat across Georgia.
2.
Increase entomological literacy of Georgians so they will appreciate insect diversity in their gardens, learning that most insects are not pests.
3.
Generate snapshot of Georgia's pollinator populations.
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XERCES PRESENTATIONS NEAR YOU
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Xerces staff literally criss-cross the country making presentations about pollinator conservation. Here is a sampling of some upcoming events.
Check Xerces'
Events page
for updates and a full list of events.
Oct. 24
Join Larry Mellichamp, Emeritus Professor, UNC Charlotte and author of Native Plants of the Southeast, Nancy Lee Adamson of Xerces Society and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Matt Johnson and Jennifer Tyrrell of SC Audubon, Rick Huffman of Earth Design, Inc., Thomas Dobbins, Clemson Cooperative Extension, and Katie Ellis of SC Native Plant Society for a day focused on gardening with native plants. With Nancy, learn how planting for pollinators benefits us and other wildlife. She will highlight some of the more than 500 native bees in South Carolina, their importance in local food production and their connections to our native plants, wildlife, and watershed health. She’ll also share resources for better supporting diverse pollinators and other insects like predatory wasps (that reduce garden pest populations) by providing pollen, nectar, and shelter through the year. Registration for the conference is required.
Click
here
for more information and to register
Nov. 4
Join Keren Giovengo of UGA Ecoscapes, Jason Schmidt of UGA Entomology Department, Catherine Magee of GA NRCS, and Nancy Lee Adamson of Xerces Society for a morning program on planting for pollinators, predators, and parasitoids that support farm production. After lunch, we will visit the Bell Blueberry Farm.
Click
here
for more information
Nov. 14
Join Kelly Gill, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist with the Xerces Society, at the Ecological Landscape Alliance Mid-Atlantic Conference to learn more about the habitat needs of pollinators and how to use that knowledge to make planting decisions that support pollinators. Kelly will deliver a talk titled “In Support of Pollinators: Native Plants Throughout the Landscape.”
Click
here
for more information and to register
Nov. 19
Join Phyllis Stiles, pollinator champion and Bee City USA founder at the Xerces Society, to learn about the plant and pollinator love affair that supports the reproduction of nearly ninety percent of the world’s flowering plant species. Responsible for 1 in 3 bites we eat, hundreds of thousands of species of bees, butterflies, bats, beetles, wasps, moths, birds, and flies have co-evolved with plants for their mutual benefit. With special emphasis on native bees, Stiles will explain why pollinators are declining and how each of us can help reverse those trends. This meeting includes a potluck dinner.
Click
here
for more information
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NOTEWORTHY NEWS FROM AFFILIATES
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Female monarch en route to Mexico this fall! Photo: Richard Stiles
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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. Check the current
Bee City
and
Bee Campus
pages to see the most up-to-date lists of our 180 affiliates in 40 states.
Welcome to the most recent affiliates to join our network:
- State University of New York at New Paltz (New Paltz, New York)
- Appleton, Wisconsin
- Twin Falls, Idaho
- University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, California)
- Howard County, Maryland
- Barrington Hills, Illinois
- Carlinville, Illinois
- University of Mississippi (Oxford, Mississippi)
- Triton College (River Grove, Illinois)
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Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society. Our conservation work is powered by our donors. Your
tax deductible donation
will help us to protect the life that sustains us.
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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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