Earth Day: It’s for the bees

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick will put bumblebees in the spotlight this Earth Day.

On Thursday — Earth Day – CCNB will hold a seed bomb party as part of their Backyard Bee Box Project.   The seed bomb party is an initiative to help bring back New Brunswick’s native bee, the bumblebee.

“Research that’s coming out of York University and Guelph have pointed to a decline in the abundance as well as the diversity of bees,” said Tracy Glynn, forest campaigner for CCNB.

“They conducted surveys and some bee species they’re not finding.”

Bees need pollen and nectar to survive//Google Images

Glynn said that since bumblebees eat only pollen and nectar, New Brunswickers need to start planting more native wildflowers, which produce a lot of pollen and nectar, to lure back the bees.

“A lot of people are planting these exotic flowers. They’re beautiful flowers but they don’t have the food the bees need,” she said.

Bees need native wildflowers to survive, such as wild irises, flat-topped asters, milkweed, evening primrose, bergamot and goldenrod. They also like brown-eyed susans, roses and sunflowers.

Without bumblebees, our food supply would deteriorate because a lot of it depends on bees.

“Something like 70 per cent of our food is dependent on pollination through bees and insects,” said Kevin Matthews, renewable energy coordinator for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

“For example, the bee that pollinates the blueberry is a very specific bee.  If we lose those bees, then we lose the blueberries.”

Seed bombs are created using wildflower seeds, clay, and compost//Google Images

That’s where the seed bombs come in.   Put simply, seed bombs are small balls of wildflower seeds mixed with clay and organic compost.  The balls are tossed into a field in hopes they will turn into pollen- and nectar-producing wildflowers that will attract bees.

Glynn said the idea came from the guerrilla gardening movement that environmentalists in larger cities have adopted to turn abandoned land into environmentally-friendly land.  In this case, abandoned fields around the city would be used to grow wildflowers for the bees.

CCNB has already held a workshop to practice making the seed bombs.   They made about 50 in five minutes.

Glynn said the seed bomb party is intended to educate people on the issue facing our bumblebee population and to show how easy it can be to lure them back.

She is encouraging people to carry out the seed bomb project on their own.  She said it’s a fun exercise for kids.

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=6343

Posted by Jody Nabuurs on Apr 21, 2010. Filed under News, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.