Native Bees of America

Native bees are an unappreciated treasure, with 4,000 species from tiny Perdita to large carpenter bees, they can be found anywhere in North America where flowers bloom.

Most people don’t realize that there were no honey bees in America until the white settlers brought hives from Europe. These resourceful insects promptly managed to escape domestication, forming swarms and setting up housekeeping in hollow trees, other cavities or even exposed to the elements just as they had been doing in their native lands.

Native pollinators, in particular bees, had been doing all the pollination in this continent before the arrival of that import from the Old World. They continue to do a great deal of it, especially when it comes to native plants.

Source: https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348
Poster: http://beesinyourbackyard.blogspot.com/p/poster.html

 

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Sustainable Rogue Valley at the Siskiyou Film Festival

We are joining with the Unitarian Universalists at a table at this years Siskiyou Film Festival. We hope you will support KS Wild by going to the FilmFest on Sunday afternoon from 3 pm – 8 pm for several hours of wonderful entertainment, education and good locally sourced food by Chef Kirsten.

Learn more about the recently funded RCC RainGarden and Bioswale Project we will be doing in collaboration with the RCC folks in 2017-18. We are beginning the planning for it at the February 26th meeting.If you are interested in helping or learning more come to the February meeting.

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A part of the site of the upcoming RCC RainGarden and Bioswale Project

Then, at the March meeting, we are fortunate enough to have Travis Owen, a local wild bee expert (or “amateur anthecologist”!) speaking to us about our local bees and ways we can protect and support them as well as learn to recognize them! This will be on March 26th at the UU Fellowship at 12:30 pm. We hope you will join us!   Find lots of interesting material on bees, wasps and moths on his website: http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/

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One of Travis Owen’s wonderful native bee photos!

If you would like to read up ahead of time go to this article on Travis’s site: http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/11/bees-of-2016.html