ANBC Program Options
Program Overview
The Alberta Native Bee Council (ANBC) offers a suite of native bee programming. This programming combines outreach activities that build awareness of native bee conservation, and contributes to improving habitat and monitoring of native bee populations.
Program activities fall under the following topics:
Bumble bee box workshops and monitoring: The most recognizable members of Alberta’s native bees are bumble bees. The ANBC’s bumblebee box monitoring project runs workshops with the general public to create bumble boxes for citizens to place on their property. The project raises awareness of the importance of bumble bees and contributes to our understanding of bumblebee nesting preferences and populations, as bumblebee box owners are encouraged to report annually on occupancy of their box. There are also several ways for citizens to contribute data to continent-wide bumble bee tracking initiatives (Bumble Bee Watch and iNaturalist projects); presentations on these initiatives build capacity for citizens to contribute to these projects.
Native bee education and information materials: There is enormous demand for public education on native pollinators. Through presentations and educational materials, ANBC will raise awareness about native pollinators. Options for programming include the development of a local identification guide for bumble bees, presentations, pollinator walks and a pilot program offering solitary bee hotels with clear windows to observe bee cocoon development.
Creation of native bee habitat: Habitat loss is the biggest threat to biodiversity globally. The best way to protect native bees is to protect existing habitat and work to restore it where it has been lost. The ANBC can provide information on how to create native bee habitat, including native bee flower lists, supplier information and content for informative signs to post in areas where bee habitat has been restored.
Native bee monitoring: Surveying and monitoring of native bee populations helps us understand the population status and diversity of Alberta’s native bees. Using a standard methodology, surveying bees, the ANBC will provide a list of bees that occur in the area and help establish a baseline against which to assess future population diversity and abundance.
Program Activities and Projects
Bumble bee box workshops and monitoring
A bumble bee box building workshop (up to 30 bee boxes total):
ANBC will work with your organization to select appropriate dates for workshops. Includes a 1-2 hour presentation and all of the materials for participants to build a bumble bee box to take home.
Native bee education and information materials
Development of Guide to Bumble Bee Queens in your area
o Guide will cover the common bumble bee species and colour variants for the area
o We will include your organization’s logo on the Guide.
o Includes 500 print copies of the guide.
Native Bees 101 - Presentation to the general public
Pollinator Walk - includes Native Bees 101 presentation plus an outdoor walk with nets where participants can catch, identify and release bees.
Creation of Native Bee Habitat
Development of an information package for the creation of native bee habitat. This includes:
- A list of bee plant species, native to the your region
- Native plant supplier contact information, costs, etc.
- Details on other other important habitat components, such as nesting resources for native bees.
- Content and photos for signage to be placed at the bee habitat location.
Native Bee Survey and Monitoring - Survey of the native bees of area
Inventories require destructive sampling
o Traps set out for two-week intervals throughout the area in the spring and summer
o All bees washed, dried, pinned, labelled, databased and identified.
o Five reference collections of pinned bee specimens.
o List of bee species for the area
