There has been much publicity the past few years about the importance of pollinators.  There are many insects and other animals who pollinate the flowers needed to produce our crops and sustain our natural environment, but the stars of the show are bees. When members of the public think of bees, they think honeybees, and many have heard that bees are in trouble. The honeybee, however, is an exotic invasive insect!  “Keeping honeybees for pollinator conservation is like keeping chickens for bird conservation,” says Mace Vaughan, the co-director of the Pollinator Program at the Xerces Society, a non-profit that has partnered with the USDA.  This is true across the U.S. and locally as well.  The purpose of this workshop, therefore, was to educate the public about our native bees, which many of our native plants depend on for their existence.  Our target audience was the adult population generally; the class was also marketed to Master Gardeners, beekeepers, naturalists and pollinator & insect enthusiasts.

The success of this program was due in major part to two partners whose knowledge and experience were without par: Denise Ellsworth, the Ohio State University’s Extension Pollinator Educator, and Olivia Carrill, a nationally-known native bee researcher and author from New Mexico.  I was able bring them in to teach our workshop since they were going to be in the area that weekend.

The workshop was a day-long, one-time event.  Twenty-four participants learned about many types of native bees, their identification, habitats, life cycles, and floral preferences, including the latest research from UK, the Xerces Society, other others. A variety of teaching methods were used.  The day started with PowerPoint presentations and progressed to an introduction and identification of mounted specimens. Next, participants went outside with nets to catch bees & other insects in the demonstration gardens, and brought them in to identify.  Finally, class members saw demonstration pollinator gardens, and learned about the recent UK research on plant species & garden layouts to use for maximum flower nectar production and insect attraction.

The first success of the day was that 40% of the class members were at their first UK Extension program.  A continual goal is to reach new residents, so this was great.  Class members appreciated the quality and content of this workshop.  Over ninety percent said that the quality of the presenters was 5 out of 5.  Over ninety percent also judged the hands-on content of the day as a 5 of 5.  

Before the workshop, 36% of respondents said they would not be able to tell bees apart from other kinds of insects, ranking themselves 1 or 2 on a 5-point scale.  Afterwards, all respondents said they could tell them apart, with 24% giving themselves a 3 or better, 51% 4 or better, and 24% gave themselves a 5 of 5.  Similar increase in knowledge was indicated when asked about their understanding of bee habitats, flower preferences, bee species found here, etc.

As of a result of this workshop, every attendee said s/he would pay more attention to the flowering plants on their property; would plant more perennials, shrubs or trees specifically for native bees; and would try to identify insects they saw in their yards.   Other said they would share their new information with friends, continue to study and learn more about bees, and do what they could for pollinators in general.

Participants were asked, “What was the most valuable thing you learned today?”  Answers included, ‘Everything’, ‘The bee species found locally’, the hands-on activities’, ‘different ways to ID bees’, ‘I can learn to identify native bees’, ‘meeting wonderful people’, and ‘sharing what I learned’.  

Future classes are planned to educate more residents on this and related topics.