The Native Bee Society of B.C. has received such high interest for an upcoming workshop on bee biology and identification in Nanaimo, the organization is considering holding an additional event.
A two-day Mini-Bee School Nanaimo has been set for Saturday and Sunday, May 10-11.
Bonnie Zand, the course instructor, said that in recent weeks organizers had to expand the number of seats, then add a wait-list to accommodate the influx of interested locals.
"A lot of people want to know what's going on and what types of bees are around. We're just seeing more and more people interested," she said. "We've got some people who doing projects, university [students] who are coming, as well as some people that are just naturalists and are interested in knowing what's around them or maybe are working on restoration projects and want to know more about how they can support native pollinators."
That kind of support, Zand explained, can involve learning how different bee species nest differently, and understanding what can be "picky" diets. In British Columbia alone there are more than 500 species.
"[Some] have to have certain flowers be present or those species can't exist in that environment, and other bees are quite generalist and they will eat a lot of different pollen and nectar from different flowers," she said. "So you kind of need to know a little bit about what's around to ensure you're providing the right habitats, the right types of flowers and also we want people to know how to identify these bees because there is a lot we don't know about them."
Having more members of the public educated on bee species, she said, can help fill in the knowledge gaps around behaviour – and those interested can even volunteer for the Native Bee Society of B.C.'s bee atlas project, documenting the distribution, the diversity and flower partners of B.C. bee species.
"One of our hopes is people who take this course may be interested in continuing on to volunteer with us for that project, where we're actually sending out volunteers to collect specimens."
The society is also planning upcoming workshops in Penticton and Prince George. For more information, visit www.bcnativebees.org/outreach-events.
