Local people lend support to local bees
Online student news magazine Inside Eau Claire recently ran an interesting article on local efforts to combat Colony Collapse Disorder, aka Holy Crap All the Bees Are Dying and Nature is Totally Screwed Disorder. I haven’t seen too many high profile stories on this in months. But according to UWEC’s Max Grones, a group of local entomologists, environmentalists, and bee-lovers are thinking local and taking steps to help the Chippewa Valley’s bee population.
But in the face of a disorder that isn’t even fully understood, what can be done to help stabilize bee and other pollinating insect populations? Quite a lot, according to Ruth Cronje.
Cronje, who partnered with Clear Vision Eau Claire to create pollinating zones for bees in Eau Claire, says there are a number of ways that the everyday person can help both honey bees and native Wisconsin bees.
“We’re trying to give bees and other pollinators more to eat and places to live,” said Cronje. “And we also want to connect up some of these areas and minimize habitat fragmentation.”
Cronje states that habitat fragmentation by roads, housing developments and other man-made structures makes it harder for bees to find the plants they need to survive.
Sounds like a fantastic pooling of resources betwixt community and university folks. We need to see more of that.
