Conserving Bumble Bees

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard--Hunnewell building
Boston, MA 
Saturday, August 27, 2016
9:00 am - 4:00 pm EDT

You have heard about the status of the European honey bee, and maybe even learned the fate of some of our 3,600 native bees. The truth is that bees are in trouble and in need of our attention. The good news is that there is much that you can do to help. Come join in this unique opportunity to learn from the Xerces Society about the status of our native bumble bees, the threats that they face, and what you can do to help. Included will be information on basic life-history and ecology, as well as learning which species are most imperiled throughout the eastern U.S. You will also learn about the threats they face, and what can be done in your yards to help protect them. A focus of the workshop will be training participants how to identify the bumble bees in their backyard, and throughout New England.

This day-long workshop will include classroom sessions in the morning, and a field visit to nearby habitat at the arboretum where we will practice bumble bee identification and survey techniques in more detail, while we sample the local area for foraging bumble bees. Participants will also be instructed in how to participate in a collaborative citizen science project called Bumble Bee Watch.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Lunch will not be provided, so please bring a sack lunch. A recommended book for this workshop is Bumble Bees of North America by Williams, Thorp, Richardson, and Colla.

Instructor 

Rich Hatfield, Senior Conservation Biologist, The Xerces Society
Rich has a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology from San Francisco State University. His degree focused on the habitat requirements of bumble bees in the Sierra Nevada. He has authored several publications on bumble bees, including a recently published set of management guidelines entitled Conserving Bumble Bees. He is the Red List Authority for the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Bumble Bee Specialist Group, and recently facilitated an assessment of all of the bumble bees of the New World. He has investigated native bee pollination in agricultural systems in the Central Valley of California, and studied endangered butterflies in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and throughout the Pacific Northwest. In addition to his work as a research biologist, he has extensive classroom teaching experience with a focus on conservation biology, ecology and sustainability.

Protecting the Life that Sustains Us

The Xerces Society is a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. For over forty years, the Society has been at the forefront of invertebrate protection worldwide, harnessing the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation programs.