Mid-Willamette Valley Jewish Community
I have spent the last year and a half volunteering for the Oregon Bee Atlas Project. The project was developed after the killing of 80,000 bees in Wilsonville in 2013. Pesticide operators were spraying linden trees with neonicotinoid chemical. Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. The neonicotinoid family includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. The pesticide operators were spraying for aphids on the linden trees which were filled with bumblebees working on the flowers.
Oregon became the only state to develop legislation to support and protect native bees. The Oregon Bee Atlas Project has come out of that work. The purpose is to learn more about our native bee populations, what they feed on, where they are and who they are. We most likely have over 500 different types of native bees in our state. Volunteers are trained to collect bees, pin and identify them, recording information about them which goes to the project. There are groups all over the state.
Many native bees nest in the ground while others fill the inside of twigs. They feed on pollen and nectar. When you begin looking you can see they are as busy as bees are famous for being. One mason bee does the work of a hundred honey bees in pollinating a cherry tree. I have mason bee boxes in my yard right now (May) and they are busy collecting mud and pollen to encase and feed their young for next year’s brood.
We have many other bees in our garden including the easily recognized bumble bees and others of all sizes—some incredibly tiny, all being as busy as bees!
If you are interested in promoting bee habitat in your garden you can provide food and a home. Native plants, fruit trees, and shrubs are good food sources. For nesting opportunities leave some bare dry earth areas in your garden and areas with loose sandy soil. Leave mounds of soil for other ground nesting bees. Leave some of your perennial plants’ dried stems for twig nesters. Elderberry is good for this. Leave logs and other woody debris. It can take up to a year for bees to find these spots and colonize them.
For more on this topic check out “The Bees in Your Backyard” by Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril.
Stop using pesticides—they are harmful to bees, other insects and to us. There are many good books on alternatives to pesticides. Organic gardening is healthier for the bees, good for the soil, and good for us.
By Maureen