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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">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.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">**************************</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">FROM: Stockton Record </p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150421/NEWS/150429902/101095/A_NEWS">http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150421/NEWS/150429902/101095/A_NEWS</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style><b>By Reed Fujii</b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Posted Apr. 21, 2015 at 7:30 PM</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><b><span style="font-size:21.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lockeford researchers boost conservation efforts</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style><img border="0" width="413" height="310" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D07CE9.83E03EC0" alt="Jessa Kay-Cruz with the Xerces Society talks about the pollinator habitat at Lockeford Plant Materials Center."><span class="ftrt"><a href="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¬es=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.recordnet.com%2Fstoryimage%2FSR%2F20150421%2FNEWS%2F150429902%2FAR%2F0%2FAR-150429902.jpg&credit=THE%20RECORD" target="_blank"></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#666666">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</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>“What we need to be working on is more conservation issues to help farmers,” Smither-Kopperal said.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>Among those issues is, she continued, “How we’re managing to improve the health of our soils over time.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>Other efforts were aimed at water quality and water conservation, topics which have become particularly vital in California’s fourth year of drought.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>There are thousands of species of native bees in North America, Kay-Cruz said.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>“In a lot of ways, they are really critical,” she said.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>Wild bees are the best carriers of pollen from flower to flower for native plants, the species having evolved together for millions of years.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>“They are also really great crop pollinators,” she said.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>“We’re really trying to support lots of bee species,” she explained.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>The lesson there, Kay-Cruz noted, “Our native wildflowers are acclimated to drought.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></body></html>