Diario del proyecto Washington Native Bee Society

Let's add more bee nests next year.

Thank You From Project GNBee
jordan_kue jordan_kue

Dear ground-nesting bee community,

As we close out our northern hemisphere summer, we want to acknowledge and thank you for your observations, photos, and taxonomic assignments. With your help, we’ve been able to grow this community and spread awareness about the diversity of bees and the importance of our native ground-nesting pollinators. Thus far, we have we’ve collected over 1200 observations from over 650 people, and this is just the beginning. While some species may have come and gone for the season, still others are beginning to emerge. So, continue to keep an eye out for nest new sites. We also encourage repeat observations from known active nest sites as they can help to reveal the nesting phenology and growth factors. Consider visiting a nesting site reported by a fellow citizen scientist —keep spreading the word and searching the world.

If you are interested in getting more involved, consider becoming a bee ambassador for a nesting site near you, helping to provide continual data and observations of the site. To get more information on being a bee ambassador and supporting the native bees near you, email us at groundnestingbees@gmail.com.

The more records we collect, the more we can learn the specific nesting requirements of different groups of bees. Indeed, from the soil texture data collected from local aggregation sites, we are beginning the next phase of project GNBee, installing bee beds at local farms. These specialized soil beds will provide safe, uninterrupted habitat for native bees to nest, helping promote native conservation along with local farm pollination. To stay up to date with our progress, follow us on Instagram (@projectgnbee) and keep an eye on our website, gnbee.org. You can also respond to this message to be added to our email list and receive periodic updates in your inbox.

Thank you again and we hope to see more of your observations as we work together to educate about protecting and promoting native bees across diverse ecologies and build a sustainable and resilient future for all.

Sincerely,

Project GNBee