CORVALLIS, Ore. — For people interested in bees — from backyard gardeners to farmers — Oregon State University Extension Service offers a way to turn curiosity into action.
The Bee Stewards program, developed through OSU’s Pollinator Health Lab, is a self-paced, online course that teaches participants how to understand native bees and improve habitat using specific science and data.
“We start with bee biology and ecology, so participants understand not just what to do, but why it matters,” said Jen Hayes, a postdoctoral scholar in the lab and the program’s primary instructor.
Hayes spent several months updating and expanding course content, including new modules and resources based on the latest research in pollinator health.
Built on research and partnerships
The program is closely connected to the Oregon Bee Project, a statewide initiative established through legislative support to protect and promote pollinators across Oregon.
Through that effort, OSU Extension and partners have built one of the most comprehensive datasets on native bees.
A major contributor to that work is the Master Melittologist Program, which trains community scientists to collect and document bees and the plants they visit. Their field observations feed into Oregon Bee Atlas and other bee atlas programs in Washington, Idaho, New Mexico and British Columbia that are long-term efforts to map bee diversity and distribution.
Together, these programs provide the scientific foundation for the Bee Stewards course.
Learning bee biology and habitat design
Participants complete five self-paced modules covering bee biology, plant-pollinator relationships and habitat design.
The course was first offered a few years ago. While originally designed for farmers and woodlot owners, it has expanded to include gardeners, farmers and other land managers and people who simply want to learn more about bees and how landscapes support them.
“We’re giving people the information to make targeted decisions,” Hayes said. “It’s about improving habitat in a way that’s grounded in ecology.”
Applying knowledge through site inventories
A unique feature of the course is a stewardship tool that uses bee atlas data.
Participants conduct a plant inventory at a site of their choosing within Oregon. Using the Melittoflora — an interactive dataset of bee–plant relationships from the various atlas programs — the tool identifies which bee species are likely to be present at a site based on the plant community and ecoregion.
This forms the backbone of a personalized stewardship report, which includes specific recommendations to improve habitat, such as native plant species to add to a site to support a wider diversity of bees.
Because the Melittoflora is built from bee atlas data, the stewardship report is limited to participants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico and British Columbia.
The course is asynchronous, allowing participants to enroll at any time and complete modules at their own pace. All lectures, assignments and resources are available online.
While the course content draws on bee atlas-based research, enrollment is open to all participants who are interested in learning about bee ecology and habitat design.
