[Pollinator] Pollinator Week in Melbourne Australia!

[Julie Armstrong]

Hello Malcolm and Jane

Thank you for your post about Australian Pollinator Week. It has been
running since 2015, started by Megan Halcroft, an Australian native bee
expert who has a website  'Bees Business' <https://www.beesbusiness.com.au/>and
also a very well attended Facebook page. It's also aligned with 'Wild
Pollinator Count' <https://wildpollinatorcount.com/>  a citizen Science
project which is gaining momentum in the number of participants, which is
much needed as we have so little data on what is happening with our
pollinators. This year the Wheen Bee Foundation
<https://www.wheenbeefoundation.org.au/> took on the 'Australian Pollinator
Week'  as they have been very involved in World Bee Day and wish to be the
'oversight ' for bees in Australia. They are working with farmers to
increase forage on farms for pollinators as well as a host of other
initiatives. 'Food Security needs Bee Security'
World Bee Day was very well celebrated in Canberra both last year at its
inaugural event as we have the embassies in Canberra and the Embassy of the
Republic of Slovenia was pro active in networking many 'bee focussed'
organisations. The Slovenian, Swedish (and Nordic) and Swiss Embassies were
the focus of events with the Canberra Region Beekeepers, Capital Region
Farmers Market, Hall Rotary, Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT for
Bees, Rotary for Bees, Wheen Bee Foundation, CSIRO, Australian National
University (ANU for Bees), Australian Honeybee Industry Council, and a
number of other embassies and organisations were involved this year.
There are a growing focus on the importance of bees and pollinators in
Australia and Hall Village
<https://actforbees.org/act-for-bees-hall-honeys-and-australian-pollinator-week-%f0%9f%90%9d%f0%9f%8c%bb%f0%9f%90%9d/>
is about to declare itself the first 'Bee Friendly' community in Australia.

Our group, ACT for Bees is working towards 'Bee Friendly Canberra' through
working with the ACT Govt to increase plantings for year round flowering
for pollinators. We have recently had a 'win' with the ACT Government
adopting ACT for Bees additions in their review of the ACT Government MIS25
Urban Landscape Planting List
<https://www.tccs.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1378543/MIS25-Plant-Species-for-Urban-Landscape-Projects.pdf>
.

Developers and government bodies can only use plants on this list
<https://www.tccs.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1378543/MIS25-Plant-Species-for-Urban-Landscape-Projects.pdf>.
The list now includes our data on flowering times, nectar, pollen, seed
resources, the species of forager (whether it be bees, butterflies, birds)
and habitat for native mammals. It guides choosing plants for flowering
throughout the year, which species are the best for long periods of
flowering and also indicates medium or high nectar and pollen production.
The review focussed on selecting species which are suited for an
increasingly hot climate.
ACT for Bees has also developed 'Love Food? Love Bees!'
<https://actforbees.org/resources/curriculum/> aligned with the Australian
National curriculum curriculum which is free to download. We have been very
pleased to hear how many teachers and educators have used these resources.
Hope you enjoy them and sign up for our newsletter.

Best wishes

Julie Armstrong
actforbees.org/


*Bees and other pollinators are keystone species for our ecosystem and
vital for food security. It is in our interest to support their wellbeing.
Plant for flowers throughout the year, avoid using pesticides and keep a
bowl filled with water for wildlife*. Go to actforbees.org for more
information.


On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 3:03 AM Peter Bernhardt <peter.bernhardt at slu.edu>
wrote:

> My former PhD advisor, Malcolm Calder, sent me the following link.  This
> is something I never thought I'd see.  Let's hope they have it every year
> and activities are covered by "The Science show."  Will it spread to every
> Australian state?
>
>
> Peter
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Malcolm <acacias at bigpond.net.au>
> *Sent:* Saturday, November 9, 2019 6:32 PM
> *To:* Peter Bernhardt <peter.bernhardt at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* [External] How Victoria's 'Snow in the Paddocks' melted away -
> and is being saved
>
> Hi peter
> I found this article from The Age that you might be interested in:
> Today is the start of pollination week in Australia!!!  Can you imagine?
> Check the link.
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://Australianpollinatorweek.org.au__;!euKmGKuCglU!aVNYWm5cst2KaOwTWCcWSnEUszMsg0vPVzjNv1dLQs5NTqqEBaUDsVNaGmnBH43N$
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.theage.com.au/environment/-p5379a.html__;!euKmGKuCglU!aVNYWm5cst2KaOwTWCcWSnEUszMsg0vPVzjNv1dLQs5NTqqEBaUDsVNaGoZDCTCh$
>
> Happy reading .     Malcolm and Jane
>
>
>
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