New Hampshire Abuzz for National Pollinator Week

By Stephen Cheslik
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
Conservation districts around the state are joining together to celebrate tiny creatures that many consider pests but are essential to our food supply and the many beautiful flowers around us.

“One of our goals is to promote local agriculture. Another is to promote natural resources,” District Education and Outreach Specialist Dawn Dextraze said Monday. “We thought ‘National Pollinator Week’ would be a good fit for the conservation districts to do something.”

Pollinator Week activities are spreading statewide this year, expanding from just Sullivan and Cheshire counties last year.

In Sullivan County, the public can celebrate Pollinator Week and learn about New Hampshire native bees Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Sullivan County Complex in Unity and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cornish Library.

While considered dangerous pests by some, Dextraze says the bees native to NH aren’t that likely to sting. New Hampshire has six families and more than 100 species of native bees, Dextraze said.

“A lot of these bees are solitary,” Dextraze said. “They are not social in colonies like honeybees. Many of them are not defending a territory or colony.” Rather than hives like honeybees, the bees in your yard are likely to live underground or in holes left by woodpeckers in trees, Dextraze said.

“Pollination is the main reason humans want bees around,” she said. “There are more flowering plants than any other plants, and bees are the number one organisms for flowering plants. A lot of our food crops — fruits and vegetables — are pollinated by bees.”

During the events, Dextraze said attendees will learn what they can do and what to avoid to help the bees in their yards. This includes growing plants that provide a habitat for bees and knowing when to cut the yard back to help bees nest.

Participants will also get to build bee hotels for native NH bees, little wooden houses with tubes inside that provide a place for larvae to grow and thrive. “Our staff cut the pieces of wood and drilled the holes.,” Dextraze said. “We are going to have people put them together.” The wood was salvaged from pallets, and participants will also get to put a personal stamp on their bee hotels by painting them.

“Honeybees are part of agriculture and produce honey and wax, which these other bees don’t produce,” she said. “They have their own good qualities, but they aren’t our native bees.”

You don’t even have to leave your yard to take part in Pollinator Week. Residents across NH can participate in the second annual Pollinator Bioblitz by posting pictures and recordings of pollinators they find to iNaturalsit.org through June 25. By posting observations of pollinators like beetles, flies, bees and hummingbirds, regular people will help scientists with their research.

“We want to find out how many different types of pollinators are in our area,” Dextraze said. “There are a lot of people that can use the information for their projects. Anyone who goes out in New Hampshire and puts pictures on iNaturalist this week will be a part of our project whether they know it or not.”

There will be a prize for the person with the most observations, Dextraze said. Last year’s prize was a $25 gift certificate to a nursery.

For more information on Pollinator Week activities and how to participate in the iNaturalist survey, visit the Sullivan County Conservation District on Facebook.