Wednesday, 9 Apr 2003

PORTLAND, Ore.

Education is an important part of our work at the Xerces Society. Each year, we speak to thousands of people from schools, garden clubs, and conservation groups. In the last year, we have reached out to nursery managers, land managers, scientists, and others. We talked to hundreds of people from watershed groups, native tribes, and agencies through workshops on how to use macroinvertebrates in water-quality monitoring. We are also working on a variety of other education projects as the summer approaches.

Talking the talk at Lewis and Clark College.

Today I spoke to about 15 students in the invertebrate zoology class and Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. My talk was entitled “Endangered Invertebrates: The Case for Greater Attention to Invertebrate Conservation,” and centered around the need to protect habitat for these vital organisms. The students were attentive (I remember plenty of times I did not pay attention when I was an undergrad!) and asked some insightful questions: Can we really grow our food without using pesticides? How does the use of genetically engineered crops affect insects? What about cloning endangered species?

Some students expressed interest in our volunteer butterfly-monitoring program, and in volunteering to expand our endangered-species database. The student-run conservation group talked about getting involved in a science project that would help the Xerces Society. The professor, Greta Binford, wants to help her students with these projects. All in all, I’d say it was a very successful discussion.

I have just returned home from the talk and have been greeted with great fanfare by my two dogs. Even my cat joined in. I work out of my home a couple of days a week. It allows me to get a lot of work done without some of the distractions of the office — although I do need to make sure I don’t succumb to the temptation to go out into the sunny yard, where we have planted lots of native plants to attract bees, butterflies, and birds. At least I can listen to the birdsong and feel the sunshine through the window. Better than nothing! Small places, like our backyard, can be a great benefit to wildlife if they are planted with the right plants and managed in the right way.

Many people do not realize the important role pollinating insects play in our lives. These insects pollinate many of our food crops, including apples, pears, berries, and many vegetables. About 15-30 percent of the food we eat couldn’t be grown without pollinators. Pollinators also provide food and shelter to wild animals by pollinating many wild plants. Most people also don’t know that the most important pollinators are native bees. When you think of bees, you may think of honeybees. These were introduced from Europe and although they are very important pollinators of agricultural crops, it is really the over 4,000 native bee species in North America that are the key pollinators of our environment. Bees can also be beautiful to watch. They can be iridescent green, shiny blue, or striped white and black. Most are also very docile, unlike the defensive social wasps and honey bees. (If you’ve been stung lately, it was probably by a yellow jacket, which is actually a wasp.) To help people protect pollinators, the Xerces Society is wrapping up work on the Pollinator Conservation Handbook. We have actually just finished the final chapter! The book is designed to help guide people through the process of enhancing any habitat to benefit pollinator insects. It has been a great team effort. Matthew Shepherd (director of the Xerces Pollination Program), Steve Buchman (author of The Forgotten Pollinators and founder of Bee Works), Mace Vaughan (Xerces staff entomologist) and I have all worked for over six months to pull together what we hope is a coherent and compelling depiction of how anyone with a backyard (or the manager of a large open space) can help stem the decline of pollinators by planting the right native plants, creating nesting and egg-laying sites, ensuring there are sheltered, undisturbed places for pupation and overwintering, and avoiding the use of pesticides.

The book is a couple of months overdue but we are now in editing mode and pulling together the color photographs needed to illustrate our ideas. We will have the book on bookstore shelves by late May. And as I look over my own yard, I can see that the work I have done is paying off. I have two different species of native bees (a mason bee and a yellow-faced bumblebee) as well as a surphid fly (all important pollinators) inspecting flowers right out side my door.

Well, happily, it is now time to pick up my daughter at school. It’s a beautiful day out but it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I guess I should take advantage of the weather while I can by going for a good bike ride by the river. Talk to you soon.