Fun with a purpose - the Washington Bee Atlas trains volunteers to map native bees

Karla Salp
Communications

Dr. Karen Wright demonstrates how to net bees. 

The air was chilly last Saturday as over a dozen people of various ages and backgrounds gave up a weekend to trudge out in hiking boots to a remote meadow near Sequim. The early morning, the fact that it was a weekend, and the distance from home for many of them proved that the group was truly passionate about the day’s work: learning to document the state’s native pollinators.

Oh, did I mention they are also all volunteers?

These dedicated few are some of the first to join and volunteer for a new project at the Washington State Department of Agriculture: the Washington Bee Atlas. The goal of the project is to document the state's native bees under the guidance of the WSDA’s first melittologist, Dr. Karen Wright.

Fun and fascinating – collecting native bees

Volunteers scout for bumblebees to catch and 
release with their insect nets.

Half of the volunteers were new to the project, but everyone was in high spirits, chatting about how they came to be involved. The day started by teaching new volunteers how to take and upload pictures of flowers to iNaturalist to record what the bees were pollinating and where.

Next was learning to net specimens. As the morning was cool, only bumble bees were out, which gave the participants an opportunity to practice “catch and release” with the fuzzy fliers, learning the “figure eight swoop” to ensure the specimens stayed in the net.

Now swinging the pros, volunteers next learned how to safely “charge” the collection vials, net a bee, and put it in the vial for euthanization* and preservation. Luckily, as the day warmed, the native bees became more active and the group had luck finding and netting over 20 species from that single location!

Logging plant types and location in iNaturalist

Last on the list was learning how to pin specimens so they could be preserved and later identified to species. The group found this is none too easy as some bees are extremely small. Once the specimens are identified, all of the data will be available on an online public dashboard.

Everyone was quick to pick up the basics needed to collect bees. It was a fun and funky group to be around. Everyone was fascinated by the bees they were finding, sometimes surprised when it came to pinning the bees that bees they thought were the same while collecting proved to be different when they took the time to pin and preserve them. Many stuck around to collect at another location in the area on Sunday.

“Anyone can learn to collect native bees in less than a day. Field work is a fun way to learn about the pollinators around us while improving our collective knowledge about our bees and how they interact with our environment,” Dr. Wright said.

Why native bees?

Dr. Wright shows how to situate the antennae 
when pinning so they don't accidentally
break off later

Very little is known about Washington’s native bees. We aren’t sure how many species are in the state and we can’t say whether they are doing well or declining. It is impossible to say how various changes — from agriculture to changes in climate to urban sprawl — are affecting them.

The map below shows known sightings of what is believed to be about 600 species of native bees in Washington. It amounts to about one dot per species believed to be in the state. In other words, we know almost nothing about native bees as a whole and there are many large areas in the state with no records at all.

The Washington Bee Atlas aims to change all that. Dr. Wright is responsible not only for training the volunteers and running the program, but for identifying all the bees that the volunteers collect as well.

Longhorned bee on flower

The project does not collect bumble bees (which are already tracked in the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas) or honey bees, which are not native.

A successful model

While the program is new to Washington, the Washington Bee Atlas is not reinventing the wheel. The program is modeled on the Oregon Bee Atlas, which has been in place for several years. In fact, the two programs are collaborating. The Oregon Bee Atlas has developed such a thorough virtual training that Washington’s Bee Atlas volunteers will be taking it as well.

Once fully trained and certified, the volunteers will be able to collect under WSDA’s bee collection permits for the research project. (Did you know you have to have permits to collect wildlife in Washington?)

Volunteering with the bee atlas

To participate in the Washington Bee Atlas, volunteers must complete training to ensure they can properly identify and collect only native bees.

Volunteers living their best life and swinging
their insect nets!

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, although training opportunities and field days may be limited to certain times of the year. If you are interested in learning more about the Washington Bee Atlas or would like to volunteer, visit WSDA’s Washington Bee Atlas webpage. Registration for the next virtual training session closes Aug. 2. The next field day is Aug. 11 at Snoqualmie Pass. For more information, visit our website or contact Dr. Karen Wright at karen.wright@agr.wa.gov.

*Euthanization is a necessary part of this research project as many species cannot be identified without examining the specimen itself.

 

Risky business: New WSDA program protects gardens, farms, and environment from prohibited plant sales

Karla Salp
Communications

Illegal plant sales can introduce or spread new pests, 
such as this lily leaf beetle which was found
in gardens near Bellevue. 

Skyrocketing online sales since the start of the pandemic put further pressure on a known potential pathway for invasive plants and plant diseases to enter our state: illegal plant sales.

The problematic issue came into the public eye in July of 2020 when reports of seed packets from China and other countries – some solicited and some not – became widespread both in the U.S. and abroad.

The WSDA Plant Services Program had long been grappling with this challenge – occasionally receiving reports from Washington consumers about illegal plant sales on social media and through online retailers but not having a clear path forward on how to effectively respond to complaints. 

Fast forward to 2021 when WSDA started a first-of-its-kind program to directly address the issue of illegal online sales of prohibited plants: the Online Enforcement Program. With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Plant Services Program was able to dedicate the majority of one inspector’s time – Tristan Carette-Meyers – to work with vendors to stop these illegal sales. 

The problem – illegal plants threaten gardens, farms, and the environment

Blueberry scorch virus is one of the diseases
WSDA is trying to prevent in Washington
Photo credit: WSU Whatcom County Extension

While it may seem that selling plants should be helping, rather than harming, the environment, that is not always the case.

The sale of certain plants has been prohibited in Washington because their invasive nature can overwhelm and out-compete native plants. This has a downstream effect that impacts not only local plants but animals, food sources, habitat, and more.

Secondly, the movement of some uncertified plants into Washington has been prohibited because they pose a risk to the existing plants and the agriculture industry. For example, blueberry plants cannot be shipped into Washington unless certified disease-free. Washington is currently the top producer of blueberries in the country. If diseased or infested plants were to enter the state through unauthorized sales, it could decimate an entire industry to the tune of millions of dollars annually.

But it is not only farmers who would suffer. Gardeners and others who try to eat locally sourced food would soon be forced to look elsewhere for blueberries that would otherwise grow quite readily throughout the state.

The consumer-awareness solution

Protecting the state from the threat that illegal plant sales pose requires both the public and the state to take action.

Whether the plant itself may be invasive or might introduce a plant pest, consumers would be wise to protect their own gardens as well farms and the environment by educating themselves about the state’s plant quarantines.

Also, be discerning about where you purchase plants. Sales through social media or online are the riskiest – there are just too many for WSDA to monitor and many are not official businesses, making them difficult to track or contact. The few dollars you may save will rapidly evaporate should the plant you buy take over your garden or introduce a new pest or disease.

Buying from reputable, licensed, local nurseries familiar with the state plant and pest quarantines dramatically reduces the risk that the plant you buy will turn out to be Pandora’s box of problems.

While buying local does decrease your risk, you don’t have to stop shopping online altogether. Just be sure to ask the online vendor questions about the plant and their knowledge of Washington plant quarantines. A reputable vendor will be familiar with them; you may want to shop elsewhere if they can't answer your questions satisfactorily.

The vendor-awareness solution

Amazon is one vendor that has taken steps to prevent
the shipment of quarantined plants into Washington.

While consumers can take steps to protect themselves by ensuring they purchase from reputable distributors, WSDA’s new program has already been hard at work. Since it started last October, the Online Enforcement Program has contacted over 1,200 vendors about over 1,600 potential plant sale violations.

The program has focused its efforts on both big and small businesses – everything from eBay to Etsy. For example, due to the program’s efforts, Amazon and eBay have now established filters to prevent the sale of prohibited plants and other products from being available for shipment to Washington. WSDA has also provided materials to these companies to provide to their vendors to prevent future violations.

Because of their size, these platforms not only have the potential to sell the most plants illegally, but correcting those problems also has the potential to have the greatest benefit in protecting our state’s nursery and agriculture industry.

On Etsy, the program reaches out to individual sellers about potential violations. Etsy vendors have been particularly responsive.

When buying plants, safety first

Buying plants is one of the simple pleasures in life that can help people create their dream gardens. By working together, WSDA and consumers can prevent those dreams from turning into the nightmare of unexpected invasive plants, pests, and diseases. If you notice illegal plant sales – whether in-person or online – email nursery@agr.wa.gov to provide details (including links if it is online) about the incident.

3/21/23 Update: Since it started in July 2021, the Online Enforcement Program has contacted nearly 1,500 vendors about over 2,200 potential plant sale violations.