Oregon’s native bees – they work for free

Honeybees are still in decline across the United States, according to a report from the USDA that points to pesticides, parasites, poor diet, and lack of genetic diversity as some of the problems. The situation has piqued interest in native bees, which did all the pollination work until industrial mono-crop farming came along.

According to Scott Black at the Portland-based Xerces Society, which promotes the conservation of native invertebrate species, it comes as a shock to many Americans when they learn that honeybees are not native. They came from Europe with the early settlers.

“You know, they grew up with the idea of honeybees and hives,” Black observed. “And most people don’t realize almost all of the other bees don’t have hives. Most of them are solitary; it’s a single mother providing for her young.”

Black said it’s estimated there are at least 4,000 native species of bees, and there’s potential to put them to work for agriculture.

He points to studies that have shown even when hives are trucked in for pollination, natives mingle with the honeybees for the job.

The key is to provide habitat, which includes a variety of native plants, a seasonal series of flowering plants, and very little pesticide use.

Identifying native bees can be tricky. Black suggests looking closely at flowers to get to know the species in the area.

“Right now, I’m looking at my raspberries and we do have some honeybees on here, but we’ve got at least two species of bumblebees, as well as two or three species of these little, small, dark bees that many people might think were flies,” he said.

While some bees might look like flies, Black noted that flies themselves are actually pollinators, too, as are moths, butterflies and hummingbirds. He thinks tapping into diversity will help agricultural production become more resilient if honeybees continue to disappear, or become too expensive to use.

“We should not rely on one pollinator to pollinate all of our crops,” he cautioned. “It’s just not very smart, from an economic point of view or from a scientific point of view.”

Bee-identification tips are available at the Xerces website.

That USDA study is at USDA.gov.

Deborah Courson Smith of Oregon News Service provided this story.