Events

Don't miss this opportunity to hear Sam Droege speak in person on native bees at NatureFest. NatureFest is a free, family-friendly event for all ages. 

The primary driver for losses in native bees is how we treat the land we own.  Pavement, houses, lawn, row crops, and growing season mowing reduce or even eliminate bees from a landscape that at one time supported them. It’s really a pretty simple cause and effect relationship. To reverse the loss is also relatively simple.  Mowing only once a year in the winter and reintroducing native blooming plants back into our yards, roadsides, field edges, parks, municipalities, and industrial areas is part of the solution.  The other part is husbanding what natural environments we have: removing deer, controlling invasive plants, and managing for biodiversity.

Sam Droege is a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. He has coordinated major wildlife monitoring programs, including the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, and has developed community-based initiatives like BioBlitz and FrogwatchUSA.

Currently, Sam focuses on native bee conservation, leading efforts to create comprehensive monitoring programs and online identification tools. He also works on reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program to document migration

If you missed it, check out our blog post on Sam’s recent webinar/panel discussion hosted by Wild Ones in which Sam discussed the critical roles that wild native bees play in our ecosystem and how we can support all pollinators in a balanced and evidence-based way.

NatureFest is a free, family-friendly event for all ages.  Registration is encouraged.