CORVALLIS, Ore. — In every corner of Oregon, land managers worry about restrictions they may face if native bee species are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Oregon State University Extension Service is working to ensure federal agencies have an accurate picture of the status of the state’s bees. Starting in 2024, volunteers trained by Extension will search for wild bees and the plants that support them. The results will provide a snapshot of the current range of each species before federal evaluations.
“The B-Team is a crack group of highly trained volunteers who can be deployed across the West to do a hardcore survey of bees. The team is designed to get the data.”
The project, led by Andony Melathopoulos, OSU Extension pollinator specialist, will train and then send volunteers into the field. They call themselves the B-Team.
“The B-Team is based on the TV show, ‘The A-Team,’” Melathopoulos said. “They would solve any problem if you could find them because they had so many skills. The B-Team is easy to find. It’s a crack group of highly trained volunteers who can be deployed across the West to do a hardcore survey of bees. The team is designed to get the data.”
The volunteers will document native bees of Oregon and beyond, filling gaps on where bees live and which plants they use.
Data for decision-making
“Accurate data will be a key factor when it comes to the decision of whether or not the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists a bee under the Endangered Species Act,” Melathopoulos said.
Those who complete the training will reach journey level as a Master Melittologist, a group of community scientists trained by Melathopoulos to collect and curate native bee specimens for the Oregon Bee Project. The program has created one of the largest data sets on native bees and their plants in the world and has led to new discoveries in the Pacific Northwest.
“We’re working toward a more data-driven land-use policy that conserves the state’s bees but assures working lands remain productive,” Melathopoulos said. “And we’re making investments in the right place, putting the money where we need it most. Tools like this will be really helpful for legislators, conservationists, policy makers and others.”
Why precise data matters
“The key questions when considering whether to designate a bee species as endangered revolve around three questions: ‘Where are the bees? How are they doing? What habitat are they in?’” Melathopoulos said. “Without precise answers to these questions, species could be listed that are, in fact, neither threatened or endangered, and working lands could be subject to restrictions that might not help the species recover.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must decide whether an animal is endangered or threatened. If it is, its habitat may be designated as critical, with restrictions on private and public land. For Oregon bees, much of the needed data is still in museum collections and not easily used.
“Say a beekeeper wants to move colonies onto federal land for them to catch fireweed bloom, which makes wonderful honey,” Melathopoulos said. “They may face restrictions because of competition with a threatened or endangered bee. Or a farmer who wants to apply a certified pesticide can’t do it because their activities are within an area designated as critical habitat. Everyone is impacted. It’s important to ensure before any such restrictions are imposed, we have a clear, science-based basis for doing so.”
Finding native bee hot spots
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funding the project. Training will place Master Melittologists in critical parts of the West to survey where data is missing. The project also includes building a tool to show agencies which bees are present, what plants they visit and where “hot spots” of bee diversity occur on their lands.
If land managers know where the bees are, they can focus resources to keep them healthy and off Endangered Species Act lists, Melathopoulos said. Oregon has close to 800 native bee species and some are very rare. Knowing where the rare ones are will help managers decide where to work and where to be cautious.
“The Endangered Species Act is the law,” Melathopoulos said. “Listing species under the law has been a divisive issue, but we feel with more data and tools we can create a win-win for bees and working lands. Oregon already has one bee listed — the Franklin bumble bee. We’re expecting more. This work ensures we’re prepared.”
Previously titled OSU Extension trains new B-Team to assess the status of Oregon’s wild bees
