Guidelines for providing native bee habitat

Details on how current con servation practices can be used to benefit pollinators, particularly crop-pollinating native bees providing natural or seasonal habitat to:

1) increase the abundance of pollen and nectar while ensuring that plants are in flower

from early in the spring ( willow) through late fall (goldenrod);

2) add or protect potential nest sites

3) provide a refuge from pesticides.

Whenever possible, conservationists should use native plants since native pollinators and other wildlife are adapted to them for food and shelter, including diverse flowering plants that provide sequential bloom throughout the growing season. Some practices allow for creation or protection of nest sites, such as snags or stable untilled ground for solitary bees, or small cavities (usually created by rodents) for bumble bees. Any practice that increases areas of natural habitat that are not sprayed with pesticides or implements buffers to reduce pesticide drift will minimize harm to native pollinators.

(See the Xerces Society publication Farming for Bees: Guidelines for Providing Native Bee Habitat on Farms for more information.)