Pollinators and Natives

Chief Seattle noted that "the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it." The recent concern about declining pollinator populations serve as a reminder that we are but a strand in the web; we depend on the rest of the web. Of the world's crop species, 2/3 require pollinators, and in the US alone, more than 100 species, or $20 billion, of crops require insect pollination1.
Insects such as butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles, and flies, mammals such as bats, and the wind all serve as pollinators. Of the insects, bees are the most important group. In North America alone, 4000 species of native bees exist1. Most of the native bees, unlike their introduced relative, the honey bee, carry out a solitary existence. Most species create nests in the ground, but some use dead trees while bumble bees search for cavities such as rodent holes. Bees forage for nectar and pollen.
Native bee populations are in decline as their habitat shrinks and as pesticide use has increased over the years. Dr. Suess offered the sage advice that "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." As ranchers, farmers, and resource managers, there are some ways to lend a hand to native pollinators.
Provide Foraging Habitat—Bees need flowers for nectar and pollen. A wide variety of plants that bloom from spring to fall provide sustenance during the entire growing. Many native bees are best adapted to gathering pollen from native plants, and natives are most likely to flourish in an area's soils, climate, and daylength.
Protect Nesting Areas—Ground nesting bees need bare patches in well-drained soil; too much thatch accumulation or any tillage of the soil can be detrimental to their reproductive success. Wood nesting species need snags while bumble bees benefit from bunchy native grasses under which they can build a nest in the summer and the queen may overwinter under the thatch.
Proper Grazing Management—The plants and animals on North America's prairies have long been influenced by herbivores; grazing animals are a strand in that web. Still today, grazing animals may positively impact floral resources. Attention to timing, duration, and intensity of grazing is a must in order to use the animals to maximize nectar and pollen production.
Fire—Fire is a paradox for pollinator habitat. It has positive landscape maintenance effects, removes thatch to provide bare ground for ground nesting bees, and burns completed during the winter months may stimulate wildflower blooms the following year. However, it can have detrimental effects because of the immediate habitat destruction. Low intensity burns that leave small unburned patches or leaving an adjacent area of habitat unburned can be a refugia from which the bees may recolonize.
Learn—As long as plants, animals, and, for that matter, people do not have an identity, they are of little concern to us. However, once we see their uniqueness, we begin to learn, observe, and appreciate about them.

Seattle also issued a warning about this web of life, "whatever [man] does to the web, he does to himself." If one bite of food out of every three or four depends on animal pollinators1, their lives becomes much more personal to me!

1. Vaughan, M., Shepherd, M., Kremen, C., and Black, S.C. 2007. Farming for Bees. Xerces Society, Portland, OR.