Native bees are in decline due to human activity. What are they, and what do they need from us to continue playing their key roles in our ecosystem?
Dr. Jim Davis is currently president of Shuksan Conservancy (a non-profit focused on public lands conservation and pollinator protection). He received his MS and PhD degrees in entomology from the University of Missouri and University of California at Berkeley. He was a research assistant professor at St. Louis University and the University of Missouri, where he conducted research on public health and environmental issues.
From 2007 to 2012 Jim was Executive Director of the North Cascades Conservation Council. He has coordinated research at Baker Lake in the North Cascades to quantify forest road use and to identify the knowledge and attitudes of recreation visitors to the Lake regarding forest uses, wildlife management, and forest road management. He has also conducted studies in Skagit and Whatcom Counties to assess the knowledge and attitudes of local residents toward grizzly bear recovery. More recently, he has coordinated a citizen science project to identify flowering plants and pollinators in Heather Meadows near Mt. Baker.
From Jim:
“Shuksan Conservancy completed a five-year study of flower phenology and bumble bee pollination in Heather Meadows in the North Cascades. Heathers and huckleberries dominated the flowering plant community. Two-thirds of pollinator visits to flowering plants were by bumble bees. Bumble bees were responsible for nearly all black huckleberry pollination at Heather Meadows and are thus keystone species for sustaining the overall meadow ecosystem (including bears and other huckleberry foragers). These study results have helped us initiate a pollinator habitat conservation project in subalpine meadows in collaboration with the US Forest Service and Nooksack Tribe. Shuksan Conservancy is now expanding its pollinator conservation work to lowland habitats in western Whatcom County in collaboration with the Nooksack Tribe, Upper Skagit Tribe, and Lummi Island Heritage Trust. We are currently monitoring pollinators and host plants at 15 sites, including three on Lummi Island. Over the next few years, we will be expanding our lowland pollinator conservation activities to include education and habitat restoration, in collaboration with state and local agencies/organizations.”
This talk will be held in person at the LIHT Resource Center and will also be live-streamed via Zoom. Register to attend virtually here.