VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED LOCALLY AND ACROSS IOWA TO HELP THE STATE D-N-R SURVEY THE HEALTH OF OUR BUMBLE BEE POPULATIONS.
STEPHANIE SHEPHERD, A WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST WITH THE AGENCY, SAYS IOWA’S TAKING PART IN WHAT’S KNOWN AS THE BUMBLE BEE ATLAS, A NATIONAL SURVEY COLLECTING INFORMATION ON WHAT TYPES OF BEES ARE AROUND AND HOW THEY’RE DISTRIBUTED.
BEES1 OC……. “THEY’RE USING” :14
FREE TRAINING SESSIONS FOR VOLUNTEERS ARE BEING OFFERED ONLINE THIS WEEK THAT ARE SPONSORED BY THE XERCES SOCIETY, WHICH IS WORKING WITH THE D-N-R AND IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.
BEES2 OC……..”LOOK AT THEM” :17
THE FIELD WORK WILL START IN JUNE AND IT RUNS THROUGH OCTOBER.
THERE ARE AT LEAST 13 SPECIES OF BUMBLE BEES IN IOWA, AND SHEPHERD SAYS THEY’RE ALL SOMEWHAT SIMILAR IN APPEARANCE.
BEES3 OC…….. “BY AN EXPERT” :20
OVER MANY YEARS, SHEPHERD SAYS SHE’S HANDLED HUNDREDS OF BUMBLE BEES AND HAS ONLY BEEN STUNG ONCE OR TWICE.
IF YOU HAVE A BEE ALLERGY, THIS PROBABLY ISN’T FOR YOU.
BEES4 OC……”NOT AGGRESSIVE” :18
WOODBURY IS ONE OF THE COUNTIES THE SURVEY WILL FOCUS ON.
SIGN UP ONLINE AT https://www.bumblebeeatlas.org/
The Iowa DNR has a video of a survey on its YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@iowadnr/videos
RADIO IOWA/ Iowa DNR photo
