Creating Pollinator Friendly Habitat
Diverse, native nectar and pollen sources positively impact bees.
SAVE the BEE is supporting efforts to conserve and create pollinator habitat on organic farms and ranches, and in vineyards and back yards.
Pollinator and Beneficial Insect Habitat Installation
For over 40 years the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) has worked to protect the environmental health of our Pacific Northwest community and inspire the use of ecologically sound solutions to reduce the use of pesticides.
What began in 2013 as a project to help five farms in southern Idaho install beneficial insect habitat has now grown into a broader effort to help Pacific Northwest farmers and home gardeners to create more pollinator habitat and keep it pesticide-free. The hedgerows and pollinator meadows are designed to provide pollen and nectar for bees over three seasons of the year in the Pacific Northwest (spring/summer/fall).
SAVE the BEE funds support:
- Full day training for farmers on pollinator habitat installation
- Assistance with hedgerow installation
- Plants for pollinator hedgerows
- Seeds for pollinator meadows
- Hosting field day tours for the public the year following installation
Regenerative Bee Pasture
The Bee Girl Organization (BGO) is a grassroots nonprofit centered on pollinator habitat conservation and education.
Bee Girl’s Regenerative Bee Pasture Project started with the concept of rebuilding soil as the first step toward healthy bees, and the question of finding a win-win solution for farmers, ranchers, and bees. The goal became to develop a hardy pasture mix and land management system that can rebuild soil, restore water cycles, sequester carbon, provide high levels of protein for livestock, and abundant nectar and nutrient-rich pollen for bees.
With three pastures as test plots, and tools of the regenerative agriculture trade (roller crimper and no-till seed drill) they are studying the effects of building soil health through rotational grazing and increasing blooming pasture plant diversity to enhance bee forage. Research partners at Oregon State University and Eastern Washington University are assisting with analysis of soil, bee gut biomes, and nutritional density of pollen. BGO is sharing their process and results with the farming community via in-pasture and virtual workshops.
This research has created significant and positive impacts for pollinator habitats all over the world.
Bee Friendly Vineyards
BGO’s project to increase bee habitat in vineyards and educate wine drinkers about the importance of ecological agriculture, soil health, and bees!
Vineyards are replacing large amounts of historically fallow acreage in Oregon, and native floral resources are often removed to make room for wine grapes. Bee Girl’s Bee Friendly Vineyards pilot program began in April 2019 with the planting of 1,800 square feet of sunflowers at a vineyard in southern Oregon. In the spring of 2020 efforts were expanded to Trisaetum Winery in the Willamette Valley, where 10 acres of wild flowers were planted in the periphery zones near the vines. BGO is monitoring plants and bees at three research sites in the vineyard. They have also begun a collaborative art installation in Trisaetum’s tasting room to tell the story of the bees and their forage.
Learning more and building more of these pollinator habitats is essential to the survival of the honey bees. To donate to the preservation of honey bees and their habitats, browse our Save the Bee website for more information.
