March 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 33

Meadows and Wildflowers
Essential for Bee Habitat
Habitat loss has also been a significant
cause in the decline of many wild bee
species and may be one of the greatest
threats to pollinators in certain areas.
Meadows, grasslands and prairies are
vital habitats for bees, certain types of
songbirds and other valuable wildlife
species. However, these habitats have
been disappearing at an astonishing rate,
as our landscape is transformed by development for homes, infrastructure, commerce, and energy.
To restore such habitats, the prescription is simple: " Shift from turf to meadows. Remove invasives, encourage a
diversity of wildflowers and mow once
per year to keep saplings down, " says
Sam Droege, United States Geological
Survey scientist and head of the national Bee Monitoring and Inventory Lab.
" This will make great bumblebee habitat
- and great habitat for birds and butterflies and other wildlife, " says Droege.
Habitat for wild bees doesn't need to
be large. In searching for people who
have seen the fast-disappearing rusty
patched bumblebees, I talked with Clarence 'Sparky' Sparks, a member of the
board of the Friends of Patuxent, a volunteer group at the Patuxent Research
Refuge, a national wildlife refuge near
Laurel, Maryland. Sparky is an avid
citizen scientist who has transformed
his yard in Severn, Maryland, into a
diversified landscape that is ideal for
pollinators. He says he has planted native flowering trees and five garden beds
with bee balm, asters, goldenrod, milkweed, boneset and other native plants.
" I try to have a variety of plants and
trees that bloom the maximum length
of time throughout the season, " he says.
" Originally, I planted to attract butterflies, but I found that all my landscaping
for butterflies has been beneficial and
attractive to bees as well. "

He has had rusty patched bumblebees in his yard. " The 'patch' is very
distinctive. At first you think they might
be carrying a lot of pollen, but up close
you can tell it's a reddish patch on their
back, " he says.
First Bee to Be Listed as
an Endangered Species
In January 2017, the rusty patched bumblebee became the first bee in the continental United States to be listed under
the Endangered Species Act (seven have
been listed in Hawaii). This action by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in response to a petition from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
In a breaking news update, as this issue of Parks & Recreation was going to
press, the President's Executive Order

halting all federal regulations froze
the listing for 60 days until March 21,
2017. For more on the implications of
freezing of this ESA listing the rusty
patched bumblebee, see NRPA's Open
Space blog (www.nrpa.org/bumblebee-blog).
Regardless of the implementation of
the endangered species legislation, many
fear that this species is headed toward extinction and all efforts should be made to
aid in its recovery, something that parks
can clearly aid in.
A variety of excellent resources on the
rusty patched bumblebee can be found on
the Xerces Society website at www.xerces.
org/rusty-patched-bumble-bee/.
Richard J. Dolesh is NPRA's Vice President for
Strategic Initiatives (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

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March 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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