Native Bees: Give Them a Home in Your Yard

What? No tomatoes on your carefully tended vines? Your apples are small and misshapen? There is hardly a cherry on a tree that had been filled with blooms in early spring? The problem may be that your crops were not well-pollinated because our pollinator populations are dropping. We will feel the pain.

One out of every three bites that you eat can be traced back to the work of pollinators.  Bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles and flies are important pollinators of many agricultural crops we rely on for food as well as many wildflowers. However, these vital insects are in decline.

Most people who read a newspaper know about "honey bee hive collapse" which is decimating populations of honey bees. These same people may not know that honey bees are a non-native species in our country and that they are hauled around the USA in hives on semi-trailers, going from one blooming crop to another (and often spreading disease as they go). They are a major boon to agriculture.

Many citizens are also unaware of the many species of native pollinators that do a more efficient job of pollinating than the honey bees. They too are in trouble. With its "buzz pollination" our native bumblebees are the very best insects for pollinating tomatoes. To learn more about these irreplaceable insects, please join Citizens for Conservation for its premier winter education program "Native Bees: Give Them a Home in Your Yard" on Saturday, March 24 at the Barrington Area Library, main floor meeting room.

We are thrilled to introduce program presenter Jennifer Hopwood, Midwest Pollinator Outreach Coordinator with The Xerces Society. Jennifer works to raise awareness and provide resources for pollinator conservation efforts. She holds a masters degree in entomology from the University of Kansas, where her research focused on bee communities in roadside prairie plantings and prairie remnants. She represents The Xerces Society, a nonprofit organization protecting wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Established in 1971, the Society is at the forefront of invertebrate protection worldwide, harnessing the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation programs. 

Jennifer will provide guidelines for protecting and encouraging native pollinators and their habitat in different landscapes, including your own yard. Join us to learn about these fascinating animals, the important contributions they make, and steps you can take to conserve them. 

The program begins at 10:00 a.m., but please come at 9:30 to see our displays, to pick up handouts, and to have a cup of coffee with friends and CFC volunteers. You will also be able to purchase copies of Pollinator Conservation Handbook from The Xerces Society at a discount. Members attend free of charge; cost to non-members is $10. Please RSVP to Citizens for Conservation at 847-382-SAVE.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Hopwood, The Xerces Society