Here & Now

Saving Wisconsin's Native Bee Population Is a Team Effort

Zac Schultz:

Turning to the environment, experts have long feared the decline in bee populations. These small insects have a huge impact on their ecosystem, most importantly, agriculture. But the number of bumblebees in Wisconsin is up, and so are the efforts to help these pollinators. “Here & Now” reporter Steven Potter has this story.

Man:

Their populations have declined at an alarming rate, in some species over 90%.

Steven Potter:

But why have native bee populations in Wisconsin and around the world declined at such a high rate?

Elizabeth Braatz:

Climate change, land use changes, habitat loss, and pesticides are all playing a role, and each one of those kind of stresses out the bees a little bit and then when you combine them all together, it’s an awful lot for them to handle at once.

Steven Potter:

Experts like Elizabeth Braatz at the state Department of Natural Resources say this loss of bees is a serious threat to global food systems because of the role they play in pollination. Here in Wisconsin, native bees help pollinate cranberries, apples, and a number of other fruits and vegetables. One important part of helping the state’s native bees is tracking and monitoring their locations. A statewide group of volunteers, known as the Bumble Bee Brigade, has been doing just that for years.

Judy Cardin:

When they’re dipping down like that, that’s when they’re gathering nectar. The Bumble Bee Brigade is a participatory science program where anyone who has got a camera on their cell phone or any other kind of camera can take photographs of bumble bees when they’re out in their garden or out on a walk and submit those photos to the Wisconsin DNR website. And that information is invaluable and it gets used by researchers.

Steven Potter:

Beginning in 2018, this effort now covers most of the state with hundreds of volunteers who catalog the number of bees spotted, their type and location. Despite this summer’s drought, the numbers are promising. Over the last five years, the different types of bumble bees found has increased and the frequency of sightings has more than tripled.

Elizabeth Braatz:

Fingers crossed for bees the rest of the season. We’re still seeing larger numbers of them and, overall, I think that there’s hope for Wisconsin.

Steven Potter:

There are about 20 species of native bumble bees in Wisconsin but there’s one in particular that volunteers with the Bumble Bee Brigade are always looking for.

Judy Cardin:

We have rusty patched bumble bees here and the population of rusty patched bumble bees has decreased by 90% in the last 20 years. Wisconsin is, I think, their last, best hope for survival.

Steven Potter:

The rusty patched bumble bee was the first bee ever put on the federal endangered species list back in 2017 and is regarded as a good barometer for overall bumble bee health in the state.

Jay Watson:

In Wisconsin, it’s a stronghold left for the population, so we can find them across the southern half of the state. But across their entire range, from Maine to the Dakotas, down to Ohio and Indiana, they’ve disappeared from most of those areas.

Steven Potter:

In recent weeks, three brand-new nests for the rusty patched bumble bee have been discovered here. Two rusty patched nests were discovered this summer in southeast Wisconsin. A third nest was found on a large plot of land owned by the Ariens, snowblower and lawn mower manufacturing company in Calumet County. The Ariens company is turning more than 200 acres into what they call a pollinator prairie.

Rachel Padour:

So we have a butterfly project and a bumble bee project that are both mainly built on the prairie oak savanna. We’re providing a lot of — I believe it’s over 140 species of native plants we’re providing not only forage from April to October in the form of flowering resources, but we’re also providing overwintering habitat and nesting habitat.

Steven Potter:

These efforts to create habitats for bumble bees are paying off.

Rachel Padour:

It’s a lot of area, but we have 11 different species of bumble bees found here, including the yellow bumble bee and the American bumble bee, which are both state species of special concern. And we also have found the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee here and now we have a nest, so I would say the project has been very successful. We see a lot of bumble bees all the time. They’re always out here.

Steven Potter:

State lawmakers are also working to protect native bee populations.

Lee Snodgrass:

I’m so passionate about pollinators and pollinator protection that I recently got a tattoo on my shoulder. It is a rusty patched bumble bee.

Steven Potter:

Appleton state Representative Lee Snodgrass has twice introduced bills to help Wisconsin’s native pollinator populations saying Wisconsin is lagging behind other states.

Lee Snodgrass:

Unfortunately, Wisconsin is behind the eight ball when it comes to this and especially other states in the Midwest. Other states have already put things in place to protect pollinators.

Steven Potter:

Snodgrass has a bill that would prohibit the DNR from using one particular pesticide.

Lee Snodgrass:

Neonics are a class of insecticides that are particularly harmful to pollinators. They really interfere with the neurological system of pollinators, bees in particular. It makes it difficult for them even to find their way back to their hives.

Steven Potter:

Snodgrass is also proposing specialized license plates to raise funding for pollinator habitats and mandating that state agencies use native plants that pollinators prefer. She says it’s an environmental and economic issue.

Lee Snodgrass:

Without pollinators, Wisconsin really would not have an agriculture economy. Our crops are incredibly dependent on pollinators. We have our apple producers, our honey producers, our cranberry producers, all of them would see 70%, 60%, 50% decline without pollinators.

Steven Potter:

As to what individuals can do to help the native bee population survive and thrive in Wisconsin, the Bumble Bee Brigade promotes planting perennials like the purple coneflower.

Judy Cardin:

Probably about 25% of bees are at some level of a threatened status right now. There’s been a lot of loss of bumble bees. I’m going to do what I can do to help, and what I can do is I can plant native flowers in my yard. I can promote to my neighbors planting native flowers. I think there is hope and it’s something every single person can do to make things better for the bumble bee.

Steven Potter:

Reporting from Calumet County for Here & Now,” I’m Steven Potter.

Zac Schultz:

For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab.