Join us for our fifth annual Pollinator Field Day on September 24th – we will be *in-person* at the Cunningham Research Station in Kinston! There will be four stations featuring experts to teach you about North Carolina native vegetation, pollinator identification, native bee biology, and pesticide stewardship. We will have light refreshments along with various displays that will feature honey bees, habitat enhancement, and more. We will also have free native plants to send home with participants at the end of the event. All are welcome to attend – you won’t want to miss it! This is a free event, but you will need to register prior to September 24th. Click here to register and see the full agenda.
2 hours of Pesticide Credits for ‘A B G H I K L M N O T D and X’
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We have updated our NC Solar Technical Guidance Document! Last published in October 2018, we have now added new information, guidance, and pictures for an updated edition! Please share this far and wide with landowners, local governments, solar companies, and anyone else who might benefit from this information. Click here to find the document. As an added bonus, we have a newly drafted NC Solar Farm Monitoring Report that looks at the benefit of various types of pollinator vegetation and wildlife-friendly practices on solar farms across the State. Check it out here!
National Pollinator Week is coming up: June 20-26. In celebration, we will be hosting a series of 3 (free!) webinars about some of our favorite insects! Here’s the schedule:
June 21, 1:00-2 pm: Join Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt, Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, to chat about carpenter bees. They make sawdust of your porch, and they hover in your face every spring. Do you know what they are really up to inside those tunnels? In this talk, we’ll take a closer look at the life cycle and lifestyle of your biggest bee neighbors.
June 22, 1:00-2 pm: Join John Gerwin, Research Curator (Ornithology) and Educator (Nature-ology) with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as he discusses butterflies and moths of North Carolina. John will discuss his years of gardening with native plants in an urban, west Raleigh setting, and showcase some of the many butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) that these plants attract. When John and his wife moved into their house in 2005, he documented a dozen butterflies that first year in the front and back yards. As of 2021 he has documented 44 species. Some are regular, others rather transient, but each adds to the old adage: build it, and they will come.
June 23, 1:00-2 pm: Join Lenny Lampel, Natural Resources Supervisor with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation’s Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources, as he discusses the fascinating world of beneficial insects. This presentation will introduce you to the diversity of insect life around us and the extremely important roles that they play in the environment. There will also be a discussion on the decline of insects and some of the current projects and efforts to better understand and protect them and their habitats. This is a great opportunity to learn about the impacts that insects have on our lives and the world that we live in.
***Sign up for one, or sign up for all! We can’t wait to see you there!**
Like many other organizations, the NC Pollinator Conservation Alliance went virtual in 2021! We hosted several different webinars with topics such as native bees and prescribed fire, pollinator-friendly mosquito management, and fall garden planting. If you want to check out any of our webinars, please visit our YouTube page!
We are back for our 4th annual Pollinator Field Day! We will be virtual again this year but hope to see everyone next year in the field. The event is June 22nd and starts at 3pm. We will have three speakers to talk about North Carolina native habitat for pollinators, native bees, and pesticide stewardship. You don’t want to miss it!
Presenters:
Debbie Roos (NC Cooperative Extension) – An Overview of the Top 25 Pollinator Plants in NC.
Join us for for an exciting webinar on April 27th at 3pm: ‘Bees and Fire: Do they Mix?’
Prescribed fire has been an essential tool for forest restoration in the southeastern United States. Bees are essential components of these ecosystems, but how do bees cope with fire? This webinar looks at the evidence and gives a glimpse into recent and ongoing research in North Carolina’s fire-managed forests.
Presented by:
Clyde Sorenson, Professor, Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, NC State University
Elsa Youngsteadt, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Ecology, NC State University
Kick off National Pollinator Week 2020 and join us for our 3rd annual Pollinator Field Day on June 22 at 3:00pm! Due to current coronavirus circumstances, this event will be 100% VIRTUAL, so you can enjoy the program from the comfort of your home! This event will feature the following presentations to teach you about native bees, habitat and pesticide stewardship:
Habitat for farms, roadsides or constructed pollinator meadows from seed.
Native bee identification, life cycle and biology.
Pesticide application techniques to protect pollinators.
Bees, butterflies, moths and other beneficial insects provide valuable ecosystems services through pollination. These same insects also pollinate the native plants in our rural and urban landscapes, helping to maintain our state’s lush green vegetation. Helping pollinators has never been more important.
Spend part of your day in the ‘field’ with education, research and field-based experts, including a virtual visit to the pollinator habitat at the Cunningham Research Station in Kinston, and see how you can make a positive impact on pollinators through your work.
It’s that time of year when leaves are falling, plants are dying back and temperatures are dropping. The days are getting shorter, and we’re seeing fewer bees and butterflies flitting through the yard. You might think your yard has done its job for the season so it’s time to cut it back. You couldn’t be more wrong!! Seed heads, piles of leaves and bark and standing stems, provide forage and over wintering habitat for numberous birds and insects. For more information, check out this great article on fall gardens, here! If you’d like a handout to take to work, pass out to neighbors or hang on your refrigerator, check out this Messy Garden Fact Sheet we made for outreach events!
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Have you ever wondered how to plant pollinator habitat? Have you ever wondered what plant species to buy? Have you ever wondered about garden upkeep? Look no further! We have the answers to those questions and so much more! In collaboration with the NC Pollinator Conservation Alliance, the NC Botanical Garden has published a Pollinator Toolkit to answer any and all questions about pollinator habitat! Check it out here!
Photo courtesy of Debbie Roos
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Have you ever wondered how native bees interact with non-native honey bees? Or if they interact at all? A recent study in San Diego County, a known biodiversity hotspot, found that honey bees make up 75% of the region’s observed pollinators. In addition, they focus their foraging efforts on the most abundantly flowering native plant species: “Their numerical dominance is even higher on the plant species that supply the largest amounts of pollen and nectar…this finding suggests that honey bees are disproportionately removing resources from the plant species that likely support the greatest diversity and abundance of native pollinator species.” An additional component of the study indicated that the repeated and increased visits to certain plant species may be causing damage to the actual flowers. Click here to get more details and information pertaining to this important work.
Photo courtesy of James Hung
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