[Pollinator] USDA-NRCS Lockeford PMC researchers boost conservation efforts

[Matthew Shepherd]

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Lockeford Plant Materials
Center in California has been doing some excellent work to promote
pollinator conservation. The staff at the PMC partnered with the Xerces
Society to both create pollinator habitat and to feature it during
workshops and field days.



**************************



FROM: Stockton Record

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150421/NEWS/150429902/101095/A_NEWS

*By Reed Fujii*

Posted Apr. 21, 2015 at 7:30 PM

*Lockeford researchers boost conservation efforts*

[image: Jessa Kay-Cruz with the Xerces Society talks about the pollinator
habitat at Lockeford Plant Materials Center.]
<http://recordnet.mycapture.com/mycapture/remoteimage.asp?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.recordnet.com%2Fstoryimage%2FSR%2F20150421%2FNEWS%2F150429902%2FAR%2F0%2FAR-150429902.jpg%26MaxW=580&source=jsapi&backurl=http://www.recordnet.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F20150421%2FNEWS%2F150429902%2F101094%2FA_NEWS%26rssfeed%3Dtrue&notes=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.recordnet.com%2Fstoryimage%2FSR%2F20150421%2FNEWS%2F150429902%2FAR%2F0%2FAR-150429902.jpg&credit=THE%20RECORD>

Jessa Kay-Cruz with the Xerces Society talks about the pollinator habitat
at Lockeford Plant Materials Center. The plantings support bees and other
beneficial insects. REED FUJII/THE RECORD

LOCKEFORD — The topics were perhaps a bit esoteric — providing habitat for
pollinators, primarily native California bees, and promoting healthy soil
with a balance of plant and microbial life.

But interest in such research, promising benefits to farming and conserving
the environment, brought several dozen people together Tuesday at the
annual open house of the Lockeford Plant Materials Center, operated by the
U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Born out of the Dust Bowl era and resulting federal government efforts to
select, test and provide plants that helped farmers conserve soil and
combat erosion, center manager Margaret Smither-Kopperal said that the
agency’s focus has shifted over time.

While the 106-acre facility on the south bank of the Mokelumne River
continues to cultivate, harvest and provide seed for about 30 plant
varieties, much similar work is now being done by commercial seed
companies. So it’s moving on to a broader range of applied research.

“What we need to be working on is more conservation issues to help
farmers,” Smither-Kopperal said.

Among those issues is, she continued, “How we’re managing to improve the
health of our soils over time.”

Other efforts were aimed at water quality and water conservation, topics
which have become particularly vital in California’s fourth year of drought.

Also on view were various test plots of pollinator habitat, mixes of mostly
native plants, flowering meadows of annuals or perennials, and hedgerows of
woodier flora, all directed at providing food and living space for native
bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects, mostly those which prey on
crop pests.

Jessa Kay-Cruz of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit group that looks to
conserve invertebrate species and partners with the NRCS in establishing
and studying pollinator habitat, explained the vital role insects play in
farming.

Pollination, the fertilization of flowering plants, is a necessary function
of hundreds of fruit and vegetable crops. And while domestic honeybees are
often primary pollinators for farmers, wild native bees also play an
important role.

There are thousands of species of native bees in North America, Kay-Cruz
said.

“In a lot of ways, they are really critical,” she said.

Wild bees are the best carriers of pollen from flower to flower for native
plants, the species having evolved together for millions of years.

“They are also really great crop pollinators,” she said.

Standing in front of a flower meadow in full bloom, California poppy, baby
blue eyes, crimson clover among the mix, she said in included two different
trials.

One portion was primarily annuals that would stop blooming by early summer,
suitable for orchard growers who need to clear the ground for late summer
harvest. Another portion included perennials and would bloom into late fall.

“We’re really trying to support lots of bee species,” she explained.

In response to a question, she noted the meadow had been irrigated only
twice, once before planting in the fall of 2013, and the second time
shortly after planting.

The lesson there, Kay-Cruz noted, “Our native wildflowers are acclimated to
drought.”
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