[Pollinator] USDA national native bee monitoring plan

[David Inouye]

Dear ECOLOG Colleagues,

I'm reaching out to those of you who might "bee" interested in commenting on a USDA national
native bee monitoring plan, which is under development. Comments are due in ONE WEEK, July 6th.
Details are as follows.

Last night I received an email from a colleague that there is exactly a 1-week window to provide
comment on the Federal Register to the USDA on a National Native Bee Monitoring plan.  There was
an online "listening session" scheduled for today but as I signed on I saw it was "cancelled for low
attendance". [[If you don't tell anyone about your "listening session", and you get low attendance, it is
not for lack of interest, it is because the event was not properly advertised.]]

It is more important than ever that we help each other seek and act in ways we can support
conservation science. Although this is not my main area of research (I am a physiological plant
ecologist), I am active in supporting prairie restoration and monitoring biodiversity where I work, on
Antioch College's large campus, and I collaborate with a Dayton-based pollinator conservation group.
We have a >500 ft^2  prairie habitat in our front lawn in Columbus, Ohio. Pollinator biology has many
passionate enthusiasts, and is a venue where we ecologists can connect to the public on a shared
aesthetic and conservation value. There are also many links to broader impacts, citizen science, and
K-12 education.

The link is below. Can you please share with your respective pollinator-supporting networks?
Remember comments are due July 6th!

Thank you very much for helping spread the word.  -K

 From USDA Scientist Diana Cox-Foster:
"I want to alert you to a solicitation by the USDA’s Pollinator Health Working Group to get input from
stakeholders on the need for and importance of monitoring native pollinators. Such initiatives will be
important in learning about the native bees’ health and also help to promote efforts to protect their
health and the plants which they pollinate.  This native bee survey will hopefully not only involve
agricultural ecosystems but also natural ecosystems throughout the nation."

Provide your comments through the Federal Register, see:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/06/05/2017-11554/national-monitoring-plan-for-
native-bees-stakeholder-and-public-listening-session


Kim Landsbergen Ph.D., ESA Certified Senior Ecologist
   Associate Professor, Antioch College
   Visiting Research Scholar, EEOB, The Ohio State University

e: kim dot landsbergen at gmail dot com

-- 
Dr. David W. Inouye
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4415
inouye at umd.edu

Principal Investigator
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
PO Box 519
Crested Butte, CO 81224

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