News
Location Privacy While Bee Monitoring

Location information is critical to understanding where bees are and what plants they are pollinating. We also need to protect your privacy!

When entering your bee data, please drop the location pin at the nearest intersection to your house.

If you do not want to disclose your house location, please DO NOT place the location pin on your house.

Native Bee Watch will be introducing an interactive, real-time dashboard where volunteers can explore the bee data. This will add another level of engagement and knowledge, but we want all volunteers to be comfortable with their location data.

If you need to change the location pin on any of your data surveys, please email NativeBeeWatch@gmail.com.

Thank you for your help in ensuring accuracy and privacy of Native Bee Watch data!
A female sweat bee (Halictus spp.). Photo: Lisa Mason
Share on social media!
Check out the new social media toolkit. We encourage volunteers to post their photos and share their enthusiasm for native bees. Click here to learn more.
A squash bee inside a squash flower. Photo: Lisa Mason
Getting Started
If you are new to Native Bee Watch, WELCOME!! Please scroll down to see instructions on how to get started! We are excited you are here!
Join Us for Virtual Q+A's or an In-Person Demo!
We have two different opportunities to meet with staff and fellow volunteers!

Virtual Q+A's

Bring all your questions! We will have a great discussion! If you can't make it, look for the recordings on the Volunteer Resources Portal.

In-Person Training/Demonstration this week!

  • Thursday, June 24th – 10-11am – Audubon Nature Center at 11280 Waterton Rd. Littleton, CO  RSVP HERE!

Native Bee Watch staff will provide a demonstration on how to monitor. We will cover identification and answer all your questions! RSVPs is encouraged, but not required. We hope you will join us!

Meet With Other Volunteers in Your Local Area!
We encourage you to get in touch with volunteers in your area. This is a great way to connect.
  • On the Volunteer Resources page, click "Connect with Us."
  • Click on "Meet Your Fellow Volunteers."
  • Enter the password: volunteer2021
  • Click on the Google Spreadsheet
  • Look at the tabs at the bottom and enter your contact information for your local area.
  • Feel free to reach out to other volunteers on the list.

To protect the privacy of volunteers, the spreadsheet is password protected. Only 2021 volunteers and staff have access to the spreadsheet. The volunteer chooses to "opt-in" by adding their information to the spreadsheet.

Please let us know if you have questions. We are piloting this method of connecting volunteers in local areas. Please be patient with us as we learn too.
Get Started Bee Monitoring!

For those that are new, or still need to take the training, here are the steps to start:

Visit the website:
  • Link: NativeBeeWatch.org
  • Click on "Volunteer Resources"
  • Enter the password: beesRfun
  • Bookmark and remember this website! This is the home base for all volunteer resources. Explore everything on this page. 

Take the Training:
  • Under "Volunteer Resources," you will find the training video, PowerPoint slides, and the field guide.
  • Download the field guide to review, print, and/or take notes.
  • Watch the training video.

Take the quiz:
  • You will see the quiz link on the website. Please take the quiz when you ready. 
  • Remember: the quiz is a learning tool. You can take it as many times as you wish! We want you to feel comfortable and confident with bee ID.
  • We would like you to score at least an 85 before you begin data collecting.

Begin data collecting:
  • Once you score an 85 or better, you may begin bee monitoring! Note the link to the data collection page is on the website. It is also here: https://arcg.is/1DPvv0

Celebrate National Pollinator Week!
National Pollinator Week is June 21-27th! How are you going to show your appreciation for all the benefits that pollinators provide our world?
  • Read a blog post about how to celebrate National Pollinator Week.
  • Register for a lunchtime, one-hour class on June 25th at 12pm. The class will cover who the pollinators are and how we can create habitat for them.
Thank you to the volunteers that joined us for an in-person training at the CSU Trial Gardens on June 17th!
We hope you are enjoying bee monitoring this summer! If you have any questions, please reach out to NativeBeeWatch@gmail.com or Lisa.Mason@colostate.edu.
EMAIL
NativeBeeWatch@gmail.com

WEBSITE
CSU Extension programs are available to all without discrimination.