[Pollinator] Contents of Pollinator digest

Tue Jul 24 12:43:13 PDT 2007

Thank you for mentioning the article on pollinators and Wildlife Habitat
Council's work its members. Here is the link for the article to view photos
and article: http://www.pbn.com/stories/26472.htm 

Regards,

Vanessa C. Kauffman

Director of Marketing & Communications

Wildlife Habitat Council

8737 Colesville Road, Suite 800

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Tel: 301-588-8994

Celebrating 20 Years in Conservation  <http://www.wildlifehc.org>
www.wildlifehc.org

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-----Original Message-----
From: pollinator-bounces+vkauffman=wildlifehc.org at lists.sonic.net
[mailto:pollinator-bounces+vkauffman=wildlifehc.org at lists.sonic.net] On
Behalf Of pollinator-request at lists.sonic.net
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 2:09 PM
To: pollinator at lists.sonic.net
Subject: Pollinator Digest, Vol 117, Issue 1

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Today's Topics:

   1. Gardens 'vital' for UK bumblebees

      (Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society))

   2. Providence Business News: Pollinators and Business

      (Ladadams at aol.com)

   3. Pollinator Week in Illinois (Ladadams at aol.com)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1

Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:12:42 -0700

From: "Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society)" <mdshepherd at xerces.org>

Subject: [Pollinator] Gardens 'vital' for UK bumblebees

To: "Pollinator list" <pollinator at lists.sonic.net>

Message-ID: <200707240812420578.00358F8C at smtp.integra.net>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6909249.stm

Sunday, 7/22/07

Gardens 'vital' for UK bumblebees 

Gardens are key habitats for the UK's nesting bumblebees, a survey suggests.

Scientists have found that the bees' nests are more likely to be located in
gardens than in habitats such as woodlands or grasslands. 

The study, reported in the Journal of Applied Ecology, could aid bumblebee
conservation work. 

The brightly coloured insects have suffered a dramatic drop in numbers. In
recent years, three species have become extinct in Britain. 

And for at least five of the UK's 25 species, special measures are being
taken to stop their numbers falling further. 

Scientists believe that finding out more about the animals' habitats could
help them to better understand and address some of the factors responsible
for the decline. 

Attractive sites 

The British Bumblebee Nest Survey took place during the summer of 2004. 

Volunteers were asked to look at an area of their garden plus one of six
different countryside habitats for 20 minutes and to record whether any
bumblebee nests were present or not. 

Juliet Osbourne, lead author of the paper from Rothamsted Research,
Hertfordshire, said: "Bumblebee nests are found underground or on the
surface in areas like long grass or compost heaps, and people were basically
looking for the traffic of bumblebees moving backwards and forwards from an
entrance." 

The collated results from the 719 volunteers revealed that gardens contained
a high density of bumblebee nests - an average of 36 per hectare. Hedgerows,
fence lines and woodland edges had an average of 20-37 nests per hectare;
woodland and grassland habitats had the lowest densities (11-15 nests per
hectare). 

Dr Osbourne said: "It shows that gardens are actually providing a very good
habitat for our bumblebees, and are actually quite a lot better than some of
the habitats in the countryside." 

She added that the findings were not unexpected as there were many reasons
why gardens were attractive nesting sites. 

"The diversity of garden features and gardening styles provide a large
variety of potential nesting sites compared to more uniform countryside
habitats," she explained: 

"Areas with gardens have a high concentration of boundary features, such as
hedges, fences and garden buildings, which are suitable for nesting." 

Dr Osbourne added that gardeners could aid conservation efforts by
encouraging more bumblebees to their gardens. 

She said: "There is a lot people can do. They could just leave an area where
the grass isn't mowed or grow bright scented flowers throughout March to
September." 

______________________________________________________

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that 

protects the diversity of life through invertebrate conservation. To 

join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, 

please visit www.xerces.org.

Matthew Shepherd

Director, Pollinator Conservation Program

4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215, USA

Tel: 503-232 6639 Cell: 503-807 1577 Fax: 503-233 6794

Email: mdshepherd at xerces.org 

______________________________________________________

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Message: 2

Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:04:12 EDT

From: Ladadams at aol.com

Subject: [Pollinator] Providence Business News: Pollinators and

      Business

To: pollinator at nappc.org

Message-ID: <c11.19cf9c9f.33d7991c at aol.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Focus: Business & The Environment 

Taking the scenic route to work 

PBN PHOTO / MICHAEL O'REILLY 

SINCE 2005, Fidelity Investments has sponsored a 'Wildlife at Work' program 

that gets workers involved in learning about and protecting the wildlife
around 

their offices. Above, a stop on the Eastern Bluebird Trail at the Smithfield

campus. 

PBN PHOTO / MICHAEL O'REILLY 

BOB MULKERN, a Fidelity employee and Wildlife at Work volunteer, checks a 

nesting box on the Eastern Bluebird Trail. 

By Bridget Botelho, Contributing Writer 

Fidelity Investments? offices in Smithfield occupy about 10 percent of a 

500-acre spread that is mostly untouched woodlands, forest, wetlands, open
fields 

and meadows. That?s why it was such a good fit for the Wildlife Habitat
Council

?s ?Wildlife at Work? program.  

Since January 2005, Fidelity workers have volunteered their time to educate 

themselves and help protect the wildlife on the campus. About 30 to 40
people 

are involved, and they set goals for each year and then meet once a month to

work on them.  

This year the group decided to focus on bat conservation, trail 

identification on the campus, and National Pollinators Week, said Fidelity
spokeswoman 

Robin Smith.  

The company learned about the program through Raytheon Co., Smith said.  

?Raytheon became certified and wanted to spread the word to other
companies,?

 she said. ?They ended up being a mentor for us. We learned a lot from what 

they were doing at their campus.?  

For Fidelity, having the program on its own campus can help attract and 

retain employees who are interested in wildlife protection and the
environment, 

Smith said.  

?We try to provide opportunities for our employees to volunteer, though it
is 

not required,? said John Muggeridge, Fidelity?s general manager in Rhode 

Island. ?Work always comes first, but this type of program gives employees
an 

outlet for their interests, and it is convenient because everything is right
here 

on our campus.?  

The volunteers have set up an Eastern Bluebird Trail with eight nest boxes; 

there are now six birds and roughly two dozen eggs. Last year, the team 

successfully fledged 13 bluebirds, 18 tree swallows and six house wrens.  

In addition, a butterfly garden was installed in July 2005, and several bat 

boxes were installed in April this year, though they have yet to be
inhabited.  

The group keeps a list of the animal species on the property ? including 

deer, wild turkeys and various species of birds ? on an internal company Web
site. 

And the volunteers lead four ?Woodland Walks? per year, bringing in experts 

to educate employees and volunteers about wildlife, conservation and efforts

they can implement in their own back yards.  

Most recently, in late June, Scott Ruhren, director of conservation for the 

Audubon Society of Rhode Island, conducted a woodland walk throughout the 

campus for ?National Pollinator Week,? an educational week designated by
Congress 

to highlight the importance of pollinator species to agriculture.  

Though Fidelity only uses a small portion of the 500 acres it owns now, the 

company didn?t buy all that land because it loves nature. Fidelity is
expanding 

on the land, and wetlands that cannot be developed will act as a buffer 

around the buildings there, Muggeridge said.  

?Some of the land is for future development, and some of it is wetlands
which 

are not buildable,? said Muggeridge. ?We do manage all of it, but really, 

the woods don?t require any work from us, and it doesn?t cost anything to
our 

bottom line. We have a certified forester who comes by periodically to check

for species and deadwood, and for the most part we keep everything in its
wild 

state.?  

Fidelity?s master plan for the campus, approved in 1995, allows for the 

construction of up to five buildings on the site. The company opened the
Smithfield 

Regional Center in 1998, and completed the construction of a second building

in the fourth quarter of 2000.  

So far, there are two occupied buildings on the site (100 Salem St. and 500 

Salem St.). The third and largest building so far, a 577,000-square-foot, 

four-level structure at 900 Salem St., is under construction and is
scheduled to 

have employees moving in by the third quarter 2008. A five-level parking
garage 

is also being built to serve that building.  

Because Fidelity has shown care in preserving the habitat it owns, the 

Wildlife Habitat Council gave the investments giant a conservation award in
January 

for its environmental stewardship and conservation education initiatives.  

The WHC, a nonprofit, non-lobbying group that works to enhance and restore 

wildlife habitats, presented the award at its 18th annual symposium,
?Connecting 

People & Nature.?  

There are close to 1,500 Wildlife at Work programs running worldwide and 408

achieved certification status last year, including Fidelity Investments. The

WHC certifies about 140 programs per year, each for two to three years, said

Vanessa C. Kauffman, director of marketing for the Wildlife Habitat Council

To enroll Fidelity, a WHC biologist visited the Smithfield campus to look
for 

biodiversity. The campus has been WHC-certified since last year, and the 

designation is valid for two years. After that, the company will have to
re-commit 

itself to wildlife conservation to have its certification renewed. ?

Laurie Davies Adams

Executive Director

Coevolution Institute

423 Washington St. 5th

San Francisco, CA 94111

415 362 1137

LDA at coevolution.org

_http://www.coevolution.org/_ (http://www.coevolution.org/) 

_http://www.pollinator.org/_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_http://www.nappc.org/_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

Bee Ready for National Pollinator Week:  June 24-30, 2007.  Contact us 

for more information at www.pollinator.org 

Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.

************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL
at 

http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

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Message: 3

Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:06:46 EDT

From: Ladadams at aol.com

Subject: [Pollinator] Pollinator Week in Illinois

To: pollinator at nappc.org

Message-ID: <d33.1254760f.33d799b6 at aol.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From Pantagraph.com

Sugar Grove activities introduce nature to the curious

By Scott Richardson

_srichardson at pantagraph.com_ (mailto:srichardson at pantagraph.com) 

FUNKS GROVE -- A vacant lot down the street from the house where Angela
Smith 

grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago was one of her few links to nature.

She'd play in the dirt, looking for worms, or chase snakes as they slithered

across the ground. Her parents still tell stories about how she begged to go

for walks in the Cook County forest preserves as soon as she could talk.

"All the pictures of me are outdoors," said Smith, now 36.

She knew what she wanted to do with her life by the time she graduated high 

school. She enrolled in what was then a new major area of study,
environmental 

biology, at Eastern Illinois University. She took an internship hoping to
land 

a rare position on the staff of a nature center.

"I went to work the day after graduation," she said.

Smith spent several years working at a nature center in Mattoon before
moving 

to McLean County in 2004 to direct the Sugar Grove Nature Center at Funks 

Grove, where the first Hummingbird Festival and Pollinator Celebration will
be 

held July 29. It's one of several festivals the center hosts each year.

Another gathering each January features hot chocolate like the winter
picnics 

Smith's family enjoyed when she was a little girl. Another celebrates the 

Funk family's long tie to maple syrup production.

The largest event is a fall fest held against the spectacular background of 

changing leaves in the old-growth forest.

Smith's work allows her to help preserve wild places where children and 

adults can get in touch with the natural world around them as she did in
that 

vacant lot so many years ago.

Toward that end, Smith was a key player in securing the largest grant
awarded 

to date by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. The $2.5 million 

will permanently protect 476 acres of prairie grove at the site.

The parcel is a portion of a larger 1,100-acre natural area which was 

previously designated as a national natural landmark for its biological
diversity, 

which includes rare, threatened and endangered species.

"It's part of what people see when they come visit. They automatically think

it was protected, but it wasn't," said Smith, past president of the 

Environmental Education Association of Illinois.

The acres comprise one of a handful of remaining samples of what Illinois
was 

like when settlers arrived.

They survived human activity since Isaac Funk settled at the grove in the 

1820s. But, they were about to be put up for sale by two land trusts when
the 

center and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation stepped in.

As a result, the land is the very first property owned outright by the Sugar

Grove Foundation. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Funks

Grove Cemetery Foundation are among other groups that also own parcels
there.

"Funks Grove is one of those rare places where an exceptional natural area 

and an exceptional part of our history have been preserved," said Jim Mann, 

executive director of Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. "The
Foundation 

was pleased to help preserve this outstanding part of our natural and
cultural 

heritage for everyone to enjoy."

Mann noted the area features restored prairies as well as old-growth forest.

Illinois was once 22 million acres of prairie. Only one one-hundredth of it 

remains.

The Sugar Grove Foundation will work with IDNR and other resources to devise

a management plan for the area. Smith said the Illinois Nature Preserves 

Commission should designate the site as an Illinois land and water reserve
by this 

fall. The action provides permanent protection.

"It can't be destroyed or developed in any way," she said.

Both passive and active outdoor recreation will continue to be permitted.
But 

as Smith said, that's where people who manage natural areas face their 

biggest challenge.

"One of the hardest balances is keeping it a quaint and secret place, (yet) 

getting the word out to visitors," she said. "The goal is to share it and
give 

people an opportunity to know about their natural heritage."

Funded entirely by private donations and annual memberships, Sugar Grove 

hosts at least 12,000 people annually, she said.

Sugar Grove attracts schoolchildren from the Twin Cities, of course, but it 

also serves as a destination for field trips from schools as far away as 

Kenosha, Wis.

The center has hosted groups from Elderhostel to churches and civic 

organizations. About 3,000 people appear on the third Saturday of October
for the 

annual autumn celebration.

Historic Route 66, which passes by Funks Grove, draws additional visitors. 

Smith said many foreign countries are represented by pins they stick in a
map to 

denote where they live, at the refurbished cattle barn which serves as Sugar

Grove's visitors' center. The structure features natural history displays, 

live animal exhibits and a glassed room where bird watchers can view
feathered 

visitors to one of several feeders just outside.

Smith is an environmental biologist and botanist by training, but birds are
a 

passion. She recently was asked to join the education committee of the 

Illinois Audubon Society, which will take part in the Hummingbird Festival
and 

Pollinator Celebration.

Visitors will have a chance to pay a few dollars to "adopt" one of the 

hummingbirds which the society will carefully trap and band before they are 

released. The festival also will take a look at bees and butterflies.

The Sugar Grove complex also hosts the observatory of the Twin City Amateur 

Astronomers. The club often holds stargazing events.

Nearby stands a Funk family home that dates to the Civil War and the Funk
Gem 

and Mineral Museum, a collection of 4,000 rock specimens collected by 

Lafayette Funk II on his travels around the world.

Outside at Sugar Grove, people can wander five miles off designated trails. 

Many also follow paths used by the syrup gatherers when the sap is running.

Some visitors take "passive" activity to the extreme. Smith has found people

spending a summer's afternoon sitting in rocking chairs by the corncrib 

sipping wine.

A short children's trail has stops along the way to encourage them to play
in 

the dirt and use their imaginations as she did when she was a little girl.

"It (Sugar Grove) is a very special place, a little treasure all by itself,"

Smith said. "Do me the favor and drive out someday and see it. I guarantee 

you'll want to go back. ...You come once, and you're going to be hooked."

The importance of her life's work to save natural areas is underscored each 

time she drives by that vacant lot of her childhood.

"It's a Jewel/Osco and a strip mall now," she said.

Laurie Davies Adams

Executive Director

Coevolution Institute

423 Washington St. 5th

San Francisco, CA 94111

415 362 1137

LDA at coevolution.org

_http://www.coevolution.org/_ (http://www.coevolution.org/) 

_http://www.pollinator.org/_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_http://www.nappc.org/_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

Bee Ready for National Pollinator Week:  June 24-30, 2007.  Contact us 

for more information at www.pollinator.org 

Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.

************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL
at 

http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

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