BY KAREN BOSSICK

Learn what’s being done to save the beleaguered bumble bee tonight when the Sawtooth Botanical Garden hosts a talk on the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Project.

The talk, featuring project director Ross Winton, will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. tonight—Thursday, March 15. Admission is $10 for garden members and $12 for nonmembers.

Winton, regional wildlife biologist for the Wildlife Diversity Program at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, has embarked on a project to better understand native bees in Idaho, Oregon and Washington with the aid of a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

There are nearly 30 species of bumble bees in the Pacific Northwest, all with important jobs. The western bumble bee, for instance, is highly prized for pollinating greenhouse tomatoes and cranberries, alfalfa, avocado, apples, cherries, blackberries and blueberries.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has joined hands with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Xerces Society to better understand the status of the native bumble bees.

Part of the project is to recruit an army of trained volunteers armed with cameras and vials, said Winton.

“These citizen scientists can cover large areas quickly, collect quality scientific data and contribute to the global understanding of bumble bee distributions,” he said.

Much attention has been paid to the importance of pollinators and their contributions to agriculture, in the past few years, in part because of the widespread losses of bees. The causes of the declines are not fully understood and little is known about the status of many native Idaho bumblebees.