Over this next hour, you will learn about pollinators and Alabama.

Pollinators are important to farmers and to all of us who enjoy eating.

Just about every plant in Alabama requires a pollinator.

Enjoy learning more about the people who are protecting these pollinators and their habitats.

When the program is over, please visit aces.edu and learn more about our Home Horticulture Extension team or come visit us at our county offices.

We appreciate it.

In general Alabama has a huge agricultural system.

But however, also we are what we're called the Amazon of the United State.

So we have many plants that depends on pollinators.

So if you think about agriculture, if you think about, the sustainable plants and native plants and plants you don't find anywhere else, and you think about animals and insects that depend on that cycle, pollinators really play a big role on this.

Pollinators are incredibly important for humans.

Because about one out of every three bites is dependent on pollinators.

So from fruits and vegetables to the byproducts, which is honey and, and other, pollin and things like that that are great for our, health and immunities, Also, alfalfa and grasses are really important, which also feed cattle and, and other livestock.

So their pollination is incredible.

Also for the way that nature responds to them.

So there's a symbiotic relationship there where they both grow together.

Pollinators are important to people in Alabama because they are basically helping various different plants, including plants that we're eating like crops, but also natural plants or native flowers, for example, to kind of spread, to reproduce.

So they really kind of make our environment more rich.

And well, when we think about the grocery store, they definitely help us.

You know, having a varied selection of foods that we can eat.

pollinators are a critical part of the food supply in the state of Alabama.

A lot of people don't understand that they provide the first step, in basically food coming to the table, which is pollination of of of plants.

So without that critical first step, we wouldn't be able to ultimately eat the way that we do today.

So something that's very small in nature that a lot of people probably ignore or are a nuisance, ultimatly is able to play a critical, critical part in our food, food supply around the state and also the nation.

one out of every three bites are food pollinators are responsible for.

And over 70% of our blooming plants worldwide depend on, insect pollination.

So they're super important not only for the esthetics and the beauty that we see, but also for what we eat every day.

Agriculture is our number one industry.

And combined with forestry, it's a $77 billion, output every year.

So without pollinators, most of that goes away.

So that's, immediately, a big impact, statewide, with over 250,000 related jobs as well.

So it's a lot of our population.

So it's pollinators have a lot of important jobs for us.

And, that's one reason that having students as young as 4 or 5 years old begin to learn about pollinators in the process is so important to keeping that system healthy and keeping our state and our population healthy.

pollinators are like any other animal.

You know, if we're talking about controlling an animal, we talk about food, water, shelter and taking one of those away.

If we want to introduce and keep wildlife and or pollinators on our property, we have to be sure and provide all three of those.

So we need to concentrate on both having those nesting sites for those bees that both nest in the ground, or maybe they're cavity nesters as well as the nectary resources and not forget about the butterflies, the bats and the other great pollinators that we have here in Alabama.

So we have a lot of native, wildflowers, which is very important different times of the year.

Honeybees rely on both fields and wildflowers, but they also depend on, like, forests and swamps.

We have a lot of invasive species here, too, from tallow to, Chinese privet.

And then we have a lot of Tai tai maples.

And then we have a lot of Tai tai maples.

Then you have all the ground covers like dandelions, Then you have all the ground covers like dandelions, clovers, a lot of wide variety of pollen and nectar sources there that help, feed the bees and give them their complete diets.

we have very, very diverse floral sources down here.

And so we're able to get more of a richer, darker colored honey that has a lot of different darker colored honey that has a lot of different nectars in it.

nectars in it.

So it's more of a complex, flavor of honey versus other parts of the country that isn't as biodiverse.

They have single source honeys, which, is not as complex to people's, tastes.

You The honey flows throughout the state of Alabama differ basically in three different regions.

The south part of the state the nectar flow starts typically in early February, sometimes late January, depending on how the winter is.

And then the central part of the state has, a flow that starts typically around March.

And then as you get a little further north, things change a little bit later in the season as well.

And there's different floral sources based on, the different, soil types, the different, soil types, where you're located, whether it's swamps or in the mountains.

where you're located, whether it's swamps or in the mountains.

But having a good, diverse, amount of forage is important for them in all parts of the state.

so our family bee business, has been in the works for about ten years.

We focus on producing honey for the community.

My wife works on raising new colonies and picking through genetics, which is a big part of beekeeping.

You want strong genetics that have different characteristics.

And so, we also teach classes and offer educational material.

And also there's a store now, that the family runs to supply beekeepers with what they need when they need something quickly.

So inside of a hive, there are maybe 8 or 9 different roles.

So when a worker bee, a female bee, which is the majority, about 90% of the colony, when that worker bee comes out, they begin as a nurse bee.

So they clean out their cell, make their bed, so to speak, and then they take on roles to help raise other larvae.

and eggs and feed them.

Then you have a graduation to, bees that will move around and store nectar and pollen as food supplies and reserves.

You have undertaker bees that'll take anything that dies or is useless, or is debris out the front of the hive and drop it off.

You have bees that will place water droplets around to create the air currents and the cooling effects.

You'll have some that will start to flex their muscles to heat up the brood.

And then their last job is forager.

So they'll come out, a whole group of them, whether it's hundreds or thousands, and they'll start to do their orientation flights.

A lot of beekeepers think that the bees are swarming, but what they're doing is they're coming outside the hive for the first time, and they're flying up above memorizing where their home is.

They use their GPS coordinates with the sun's positioning, and they go back in the hive and they wait on their waggle dances from their sisters to tell them where to go, what direction and how far to travel.

And so at that point, they work themselves to death, their muscles are worked to death foraging to bring back pollen, their protein and nectar, their carbohydrate.

And that's their life cycle.

And then you have the male bees, which are the drones which are seasonally produced to either kind of help, warm up the colony.

warm up the colony.

And then most importantly, they go out to drone congregation areas where virgin queens will find these areas, and she'll fly through to be able to mate with about 20 of the drones.

At that point they've served their purpose.

They die.

And then the Queen gathers those genetics and comes back and starts to lay eggs, which is her cycle, for about three years.

And then she'll weaken her pheromones will weaken, the bees will sense it.

She gets sent out to pasture, and then they'll make new queens.

And that's the general cycle.

In the South the bees lay a lot more eggs because the longer season.

And so our queens don't last as long kids love being able to safely look at a bee hive.

And so in our store, we have what's called an observation hive, where it's a clear panel.

You can see into it.

We love being able to give out some honey samples because we know kids love sugar.

But it's a healthy sugar.

But we love having those young kids come in and see the bees.

And sometimes we can open up frames and they can look at them.

Sometimes we can get the male bees that are drones that don't have stingers.

They can hold them safely.

Look at how they're kind of moving around.

Any way that we can stimulate kids and build confidence in being around honey bees I think it's an important step to turn them on to maybe I want to be a beekeeper one day.

You The US beekeeping survey has been pretty revealing over the last couple of years, and documenting that beekeepers have have faced the highest losses they've had on record for the last two years.

This is pretty concerning given the amount of resources and energy we put in.

So we really need to start thinking outside the box.

Different ways to to appropriately address bee health issues.

There's also economics that really need to be, integrated into our decision making, because that's all very important from both like a backyard hobbyist beekeeper to a commercial beekeeper that might be running thousands, thousands of colonies.

So, with these increased losses of certainly potentially put a strain on our pollination services that are being provided, and that's ranging from almonds to California to, to blueberries in Alabama and Georgia, for example.

So, the beekeepers have to be putting in more inputs and putting in more time and energy to manage the appropriate number of colonies that can be used for pollination.

And, and in some instances, we are seeing pollination shortages.

And certainly like growers having to scramble last minute to try to find honeybee colonies that are suitable for for pollination.

And as losses continue and maybe even rise, we're going to be running into more and more of those issues moving forward.

obviously there are a lot of environmental factors that beekeepers cannot really, control that can contribute to these losses.

But if I would have to give a few, management options that beekeepers should probably think about to decrease the chance of losing colonies, it would be making sure that parasites are being managed, properly.

So mostly that's going to be the Varroa mite, which is a really big problem.

the video I made, which is a really big problem.

We definitely recommend to monitor mite levels throughout the year and, apply appropriate management or control options, I guess.

In the winter, it's very important to, make sure that the bees have enough food storage that can kind of like get them through the colder months.

In Alabama, this this year we've had like really great temperature fluctuations.

And that's pretty dangerous for bees because they start getting active when it gets warmer.

They go through a lot of the food storage, require a lot of energy, but then the next day it's cold and they cannot get any food.

So there's a high risk of starvation.

So staying on top of like the food resources and parasites is probably 1 or 2 of the most important things.

So I started in the bee arena 20 years ago, and that was a time when colony collapse disorder was kind of, ravaging the beekeeping industry.

So I came in in an area in a time that was really, pivotal to improved resources, technologies to improve bee health.

Fast forward 20 years, and beekeepers are still facing many, many threats.

The threats might be slightly different.

We don't see CCD any longer, but we have other issues like other invasive parasites and pests.

We have issues with the management that we're performing on existing stressors such as Varroa destructor.

So the beekeeping industry has really kind of had some highs and lows, but the last few years the beekeepers have faced tremendous issues, particularly with this parasite called Varroa destructor.

And that's resulted in higher losses than we've ever seen in these past two years.

So despite all of the efforts and resources we put in, we're still very much needed to to help, the beekeeping industry, as well as our honeybees and other insect pollinators.

beekeepers have different options to know what the Varroa mite levels are in their colonies.

The most recommended method, and the one that yields the most accurate, estimates of that is what we call the alcohol wash.

So it's basically a jar that you fill with alcohol and you take a subsample of half a cup of bees, put it in the alcohol.

The bees unfortunately die.

But the mites also died that are potentially on those bees, and they fall off the bee's body.

And then you can count the number of mites and kind of get an estimate of how many mites there are in the in the colony.

And while I do understand that it's not the best feeling of sacrificing a few bees, for for that sake, we really have to think in the bigger picture.

There's, you know, 30 to 50,000 bees in a colony.

And if you sacrifice 300, which is like maybe 1%, it really we really have to think about how we can, serve the greater good in terms of the colony in that sense.

Integrated pest management is really critical for beekeepers.

And they need to keep striving towards adopting integrated pest management.

So that means first and foremost, understanding the parasites and other diseases in their colonies so that they can properly manage them.

So we need to promote beekeepers to be doing these monitoring events, particularly for this Varroa destructor parasite doing these alcohol washes.

It may harm 300 bees, but it's to save 30,000 bees in the colony.

So we're we're constantly striving to improve techniques and adoption rates of those monitoring events, because that helps beekeepers make proper decisions in terms of what kind of treatments they're going to use.

So in recent years, Varroa destructor mite has developed resistance against several chemicals that beekeepers have applied to, to use as treatments against them.

Most recently amitraz has is the is an example that's commonly used by commercial beekeepers.

And we're seeing growing levels of resistance develop in honeybee populations.

And so when we select treatments, then we want to rotate through treatments.

And by integrating these IPM techniques that will help promote the environment, because possibly you're using fewer chemicals.

And it will also help delay resistance of the mite and other diseases against these treatments.

So essentially prolong the shelf life of them so that we have more tools, in our toolbox to use.

Alabama beekeepers definitely have, definitely have, kind of a disadvantage with our hot and humid climates.

Especially when we were thinking about Varroa mite management because of a lot of the chemical control tools that we have available in the market are highly temperature sensitive.

the market are highly temperature sensitive.

Specifically, they can negatively affect colonies when it's hot.

So that really kind of limits some of the options for our Alabama beekeepers.

What they can use during different times of the year.

And that's why I think it's even more important for in our state to kind of get ahead of the game.

In early spring, it's really crucial to know what the Varroa mite levels are in the colony.

In order to, you know, get ahead of the hot summer months.

And being able to control those mites, similarly, honeybees do maintain a pretty stable temperature in the colony.

But obviously, if you put your colonies in full sun during the summer months, that requires more energy for them.

So having an apiary location that provides at least a little bit of shade during the summer can be very beneficial as well.

The bee Center's been really important for us from the university perspective, but also for the state because it's helped us consolidate our efforts, our activities and our resources.

And it's even improved some of, resources that we can have access to, for example, outreach.

So we're able to devote more resources to outreach, connecting with our stakeholders, but also to coordinate our activities.

Such as the use of trucks, shared personnel, all connected to promoting bee health.

So the honey bee lab at the bee Center is predominantly focused on introduced parasites, especially these parasitic mites of honeybees.

Both Varroa destructor, which is an existing threat, but also future threats such as the Tropilaelaps mite that is rapidly spreading through Western Asia and into Europe.

So we're really at the forefront of this parasitic mite research when it comes to honeybees.

Most important for us is trying to develop either new tools or new ways to for beekeepers to adopt existing tools so that they can integrate these ways into their, into their management practices.

Ultimately, we want to promote integrated pest management where the beekeepers are properly monitoring for that parasite and then choosing appropriate cultural and chemical, techniques to try to manage that Varroa mite.

We do get a lot of undergrad students to join the bee lab.

And we've been very fortunate that we had some.

We had really great undergrad students that are, you know, have been with us for several years now.

And I would say, many of them are very surprised about how hard it actually is to take care of honeybees.

Maybe also a little bit more so since we work in science, sometimes we have to work the bees under not so ideal environmental conditions like rain, and, you know, it gets really hot in the summer.

So I think definitely kind of the the amount of labor that it takes to actually take care of bees.

But then also just how much fun, how interesting it is to go out there.

And every single day you learn something new.

And I think that's, you never read enough to know everything.

So I think that's something that our students really enjoy.

So there's a lot of resources, great resources that are provided by the state university here in Alabama, but also neighboring states have also some great resources.

So so first and foremost, connecting with Alabama extension, your regional extension agent, if you have access to your specialists, like your beekeeping specialists, they're the ones to turn to, to try to gain some great insights into how you can improve beekeeping and honeybee health.

Local clubs are also a really great resource, and they provide an awesome source of mentorship possibilities for particularly new beekeepers.

So there is a great, educational net safety net for beekeepers, particularly new beekeepers.

Of course, you need to be a little bit active to search.

Search that out.

So we did launch this new online, free course that we call beginning or beekeeping Basics.

So it is a really good introduction to what one or the first season of beekeeping could look like for somebody that wants to pick up beekeeping as a hobby.

It does provide very basic information on on the biology of the honeybees.

But it's really mostly focused on applied management.

So really kind of giving a rounded, So really kind of giving a rounded, overview of what people would need to know at the very basic level to make beekeeping work.

So it is like I would recommend anybody to take that course before, you know, getting bees because it does, kind of like introduce one to the different aspects that it takes to take care of bees.

we've been organizing, queen rearing workshops across the state, for a couple of years now, mainly because we have, anecdotally heard from our beekeepers that they're very interested in raising their own queens.

And so we kind of tried to cater to that needs and have been visiting different areas in the state to kind of pull in beekeepers from different places in Alabama.

And I think we got like really good feedback.

People seem to, enjoy the workshops, and I think it is very important for beekeepers to, well, maybe understand how you can raise your own on Queens.

How much work is included once more, but also the benefits of potentially, raising your own queens because there is some evidence that locally or local honey bee stock is better adapted to like our climate, our, flora.

So the flowers that are blooming, and so there's, there's quite a few benefits apart from just saving money when you buy Queens from actually raising your own queens.

actually raising your own queens.

So if you're interested in becoming a beekeeper, get online, look up your local clubs, look up the Alabama Beekeepers Association.

There's tons of material out there online from ACES, the extension services, the, Auburn University.

I would recommend buying some books because it takes about 3 or 4 years to learn the cycles and the pests and the ins and outs, and so I would advise people to learn a lot.

And then go ahead and jump on it and find a beekeeper who could use another set of hands.

And learning in the hive is just as important as learning in books and and through educational material.

This is a great way to like, cross-pollinate, Haha, everyone because, it's really important for networking.

It's also really important that we get the newest information out there.

We are the cooperative extension.

Our job is to extend the research to people, in the state.

We do have research going on at the Bee Center at Auburn University under Doctor Williams, and they're actually here right now teaching Alabama citizens about beekeeping for beginners.

So that's absolutely wonderful to be taught beekeeping by a group of actual experts.

The other thing is to bring together a lot of the beekeepers associations.

We are cooperating hand in hand with the Alabama Beekeepers Association and, also with the Alabama master Beekeepers Association.

So we all get together and we help out each other's symposia and conferences, ensuring, you know, like that we get all the greatest information to our folks at once.

I don't know if you're aware of it, but we do have significant problems keeping honeybee stock alive.

There are numerous diseases.

We also have the mites.

We have other problems on the horizon that are coming to us.

Like the yellow legged hornet, which has been imported into the United States now.

We also have, the Tropilaelaps mite, which could be coming to us from Asia.

Actually, the Honeybee Center is doing research now on the Tropilaelaps mite in Asia to, to try and get a leg up and help everybody around the world, not just us.

beekeeping is definitely not, for everybody.

is definitely not, for everybody.

But everybody should love bees, and I'm not biased at all.

And there are some other things that, you know, you can do to support bees that are, well, mostly non honeybee bees.

Including providing nesting sites.

More than 70% of bees actually nest underground.

So it can be very important to leave some undisturbed soil, in one corner of your backyard where potentially bees could be nesting.

Obviously, planting native flowers is very helpful, especially for native bees that are, you know, local.

So they need those, native flowers as their food source.

So those are two very easy things.

I think that, you know, most people can kind of, like, help with, leaving some undisturbed area in their backyard and trying to promote, native flowers that can help with food for those bees.

I would recommend helping the native bees.

I would suggest planting the native plants.

Planting a meadowy area.

Planting something where you can leave the stems.

Because many native native bees and other creatures need those stems to store their pupae or their eggs or their or their larvae.

And then, of course, don't, you know, leave the leaves if you can.

You'll like rake leaves into beds underneath of your landscape.

That is also a place where a lot of native bees and insects want to be.

It's not hard in a small landscape to make a big difference for native, native creatures.

So many other creatures out there are pollinators.

There are actual mammalian pollinators, bats, certain shrews.

And then, of course, they're all of the creatures that we think of as bad, like wasps or hornets, but they also hunt their prey out of our gardens and yards.

So, you know, mud divers, some of them, collect spiders, others collect caterpillars.

So they're very beneficial insects.

They too need sugar.

They're like fighter planes being refueled.

They will land and sip nectar from plants.

Certain plants actually create nectar in extra floral nectaries somewhere on the stem or in the, in the attachments of the leaves.

These droplets or nectar are meant to draw those hunters there so that the plant can benefit from, from having that hunter around it.

So environmental stewardship is something that's critical for us here at Alabama Power.

We recognize the importance that pollinators play in the environment today, providing these free public public spaces for the public to come out and enjoy.

We want to be able to provide some educational resources to try to highlight the importance that pollinators play, and also take advantage of some of the natural ecosystems that we have at some of our public recreation sites around the state, known as the preserves.

today we're out of Beeswax Creek Park.

It's one of our 74 preserve sites around the state of Alabama.

And our preserve sites are known as our public recreation sites.

And what that means is they're free and open for the public to use.

They can be anything from a day use park like we are here today or they could be a boat ramp, we've got a number of hiking trails that are also a preserve sites.

So basically they're just our public recreation sites that are free and open for the public to use.

The beginning of every pollinator plot that we plant, we send soil samples off to the university of Auburn.

Based on those soil sample analysis', we come up with a seed custom seed mix that we plant at all of these plots.

So every plot has got a different type of seed mix in it.

Most of the seed mix contains a lot of native grasses, a lot of native, a lot of native flowers, including some milkweed species and, flowers that may be more common.

Black eyed Susan and some goldenrod.

So all critical critical parts for pollinators.

So pollinator plots aren't a one stop shop.

We have to think about all of our native bees.

The different times of year that they come out and know that they want to eat.

They have to have nectary resources year round.

So we try to plan these pollinator gardens so that there's something blooming at all times of the year.

And we can't forget about those nesting sites either.

There is an education component to all of our preserve sites around the state.

We we make sure that we place informative signage around all of our pollinator plots.

I try to highlight all of these efforts that we're taking to preserve pollinators, and make sure that they have a natural place to, to, thrive in.

We also have a lot of signage around our sites highlighting historical and other ecological features of those sites have.

And the signs there's one behind me are just an added bonus, because people that come through here and get to look at the signs and they get to go home knowing that there are there's a diversity in our pollinators.

It's not just butterflies and it's not just honeybees.

And hopefully they take that information home when they start looking around their own yards and gardens and start seeing the pollinators that are out there.

One of the big pillars here at the company is we want to be great stewards of the environment, and we do own and manage a lot of land around the state.

We take great effort to ensure that we manage that land, not only for the current generation, but future generations.

And one of the ways that we do that is through managing the resources that that land provides.

So we actively manage our transmission right of ways, and also managing these pollinator plots here that you see at the preserve sites.

And, you know, for those that don't have a pollinator garden at home, these Alabama power pollinator plots are a great place for them to go, you know, and monitor for those insects on that day any homeowner can take what you're seeing today and transform a private backyard or other landscape and turn that into a pollinator friendly garden.

I would encourage anybody that's wanting to do that to reach out to their local Alabama Cooperative Extension Service agent, or go to aces.edu That's where we part- We partner with ACES whenever we were originally developing these pollinator plots.

So I would encourage anybody that is want to potentially start down that path to ultimately reach out to the Alabama Extension Service for information on beginning that process.

The wonderful thing about extension is we are here for everyone in Alabama, for our farmers, for our families, for our community members.

Whether you own a home or you have a patio garden, we've got expertise that can help answer those questions that you might think are easy, but maybe are a little more complicated than a quick Google search.

So give us a call so that we can give you that local knowledge on some complex questions, or even just simple questions that might open up an opportunity for more education.

So all extension agents are really great at informing the public about best management practices.

And these are things that you do before you resort to chemicals if you've got a pest in your yard.

And so that's one great thing that Alabama Extension does, is we always when we talk to homeowners, when we teach classes, we always give all of the best management practices that you can do before you have to use chemicals in your yard.

And that really helps keep populations of native insects up and our yards more sustainable place.

We are really excited about our Pollinator Partners of Alabama program.

This is the first year that it's being offered, and this is a day long training at several regions across the state where we will educate extension, master Gardeners, community members, pollinator enthusiasts about who our pollinators are, how we can provide sustainable habitat, increase their populations, as well as, responsible pesticide usage.

And just, and also discussing the economic impact, I think that's one thing that gets lost.

People don't understand how important our pollinators are, not only for esthetics, but also for the food that we eat.

Farmers, producers depend on insect pollination for a lot of the crops that they produce.

So it's really important that we, as community members do our part to help preserve pollinators in Alabama.

Alabama has been, or is going to be part of the official southeastern pollinator census southeastern pollinator census for the first time this year.

And, I'm very excited that we're we're doing that as a state.

I think the most important aspect of, I think the most important aspect of, you know, participating in this program and getting citizens to participate is just to raise awareness of the huge diversity of insect pollinators that we have, in the state.

I mean, there's bees, there's flies, there's wasps.

And most of us probably mostly think of the honeybee when we think of insect pollinators.

But there's just so many more.

And I think that's the biggest part of the census, is just to get to raise the awareness of, our people in Alabama, because we do have a huge diversity of insect pollinators here.

you So this year's census will take place on August the 21st and the 22nd.

And we really like the fact that it's a two day census and that allows schoolchildren to participate because it's on a Friday and a Saturday, now participants can participate on Friday, they can participate on Saturday, or they can participate both days.

We're just looking for, folks who are interested in helping us, count pollinators across the state.

if people want to help, they can visit the, great Southeast Pollinator Census website, GSEPC.org download their pollinator count sheet.

One thing I would like to mention is that sheet is also available in Spanish.

And so those can be downloaded.

The participant can take that, pick out their favorite pollinator plant, whether it's in their yard, in a green space, in a local park.

Observe that plant for 15 minutes and count how many times an insect lands on it.

So Alabama is a very diverse state.

So even the pollinator plants that are going to attract the most beneficials in North Alabama.

It might not be the same in South Alabama.

Some plants that I generally like to go to are Joe Pye Weed or mountain mint or cone flowers.

Those are flowers that are that can grow if you have the right, you know, habitat for the flowers across the state of Alabama.

And we really get a diverse amount of not only pollinators but other beneficial insects.

So there's so many really cool bees species, native bees species in Alabama.

And once you start looking, you'll notice they're all sizes and shapes and even colors.

There's some that are metallic green and some that have really beautiful striping on them.

One of my very favorite is called the leafcutter bee, and if you start looking, you'll see it in most every yard.

It's just this teeny tiny bee.

It's kind of got cream and black stripes, but if you watch it, it does something really interesting.

It will take little pieces of leaf.

It'll cut a little semicircle of leaf out of a plant and take it back to its nesting cavity, and it'll use it to line its nesting cavity.

So to me, it's kind of like a scavenger hunt to go out and try to find these leafcutter bees where they've cut out pieces of plants, but they're all over, all over your landscape.

We have several different categories.

honeybees are some of the most popular, pollinator insects as well as butterflies and moths.

But we also look at some of our native bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees.

And then we also count, flies.

What are some of the more, less popular insects, but still a very important part of the ecosystem.

And for those who may not be as familiar with our pollinator insects, there are ID guides on the website as well as trainings hosted statewide.

Either on a like I said, on a statewide basis, regional areas also in your local communities, where those insects are identified.

We teach, community members how to look for those particular pollinators, how to participate in the census to capture that data that we're looking for.

The Great Southeast pollinator census is extremely important because it's collecting a very large scale of data, the scientists will need to really focus on what nectar plant the pollinators are choosing in your garden.

What also, habitat we can create for the pollinators.

So if the hands on activity, the community does and go outside, observe what kind of pollinator they have, in bees, in butterflies and moths in their plan is going to really translate in better tools to tell what kind of garden we should have in the houses to help the big giant community of pollinators.

As an Alabamian we do recommend to have your own garden, you own pollinator garden, and we with often with native species for milkweed to be able to get a food to the monarch butterfly and to host this precious egg, you have to have native milkweed.

Do not use any commercial milkweed they don't belong to this area because it's a huge relationship between the chemicals that native milkweed provide to the monarch, to the health and the fitness of that monarch is going to have to be able to do the migration not just to Mexico, but also to go up all the way to Canada So Alabama is position in the pathway of the eastern migration is very, very interesting because we are almost the last part of the journey, besides Texas going to Central Mexico, but also we are the first one to receive the first group of migrating, coming back from Mexico to the south.

So we are in the fourth generation before they go.

And then we are part of the fourth generation coming back and laying the eggs for the first generation, come back all over again to the United States.

So even though the central part of, the United States eastern Central part got the biggest population migrated, we are the entry port in Canada and the last door for them to go.

So we do have to provide not just nectar plants, but also be able to provide milkweed plant for this journey.

the idea of creating gardens in different school is not just to have hands on experience for the kids.

It's also, they become conscious and they become stewards for nature and for their own habitat in their own community and appreciate the every little creature have a role in this world and in nature.

And that's actually the big change we're doing in all these schools that we have gardens.

The kids really become ambassadors for nature, and they're also integrating science.

And they can see the relationship of the importance of science as well, of being hands on, ambassadors for nature.

So this garden was, established in 2023, and, with the storm coordinator, Carmen, and a couple of master gardener volunteers had the children collect and paint all these rocks.

They were involved in every part of this process.

Putting down cardboard, putting in the soil.

They got a local coffee shop to collect, coffee grounds to put in there to amend the soil, and then they were involved in the planting.

So it's only been a short time, and they have grown all these beautiful plants and the kids enjoy so much of their time out here.

The number of pollinators that were on these plants.

We broke all the children into groups of three.

We gave them a little clipboards, and they had specific plants and just what they were able to count.

We did the, first graders and the fourth graders, and it was just, like, stunning, exciting and, aww-feeling of how many pollinators there were.

Well, students can join any school group that's planning to do it.

We have two gardens here in Conecuh County that are going to be participating, and that'll be approximately 200 students.

Students can also participate at home.

And also with the, family members or with a church or civic group.

So it's not something that has to be done at school.

It only takes 15 minutes.

And for anyone interested, you simply go online to the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, which is available both on Facebook and their website.

It's very easy to follow instructions, very easy to print out forms.

And, like I said, it only takes 15 minutes.

And, it's a great way to do, both family and community, spend community and family time together.

Behind us, we have our garden here at Conecuh County, which is principally a food garden.

the students get to do a lot of taste testing, and everything we grow is edible.

All the flowers as well as the, food crops.

Students learn quickly that just because it's edible doesn't mean it tastes good, but it also gives them an opportunity to explore options that maybe they've not before.

What the students don't, taste test or some of them will take home, we donate to local food ministries through the Grow More, Give More program, and we're getting excited.

Between the two schools, we're getting close to donation, donating, 1,000 pounds.

So we're going to have a half ton celebration eventually.

So we come out here, we learn about growing, plants.

We learn about the process of pollinators and why we have flowers and vegetables growing together for that process.

And, then also, of course, it's really good for students to do something that doesn't involve screen time.

That's collaborative.

And that also one of the things in a garden that's so great for all of us is the fact that it suspends our psychological process.

We're suddenly in a different place.

And then when we come out of the garden, we're in a different place.

So research has proven that kids come out to gardens.

They're going to be better critical thinkers, and they're going to be less conflict oriented when they leave the garden.

So it's an opportunity to do some, amazing work for other people, but also for the students themselves.

actually, our entire garden might be considered a pollinator garden because it's integrated.

We have flowering plants and other plants that would attract pollinators, planted in with vegetables.

In order to, increase the pollinator, opportunities and access.

So, really, all of our garden, is considered a pollinator garden.

We are developing a couple of specific environments, such as a butterfly box.

And that's the information that students will be taking from the census, to help us design that.

And the way that works is that last year, they, last August, they had the, sheets that again, they downloaded from the, great Southeast census, website.

And they went through and they for that 15 minute observation period, they marked which, plant they were observing and which insects landed on it and how many times.

And this is an example of, one of those students handiwork, using the plant of catnip.

And then I took the data from the students and put it into an Excel sheet.

And now the students are using that data to make decisions.

For example, if they want to have more butterflies in the garden, which of the plants, do we need to plant more of?

If they want more bumblebees, etc.

And then they're also doing some of their independent research in conjunction with their teachers for, looking at other plants that maybe we don't have.

That would be a good draw for students.

And it's not just flowers that are important.

Plant, insects also use vegetable plants, particularly beans, as, a host plant.

So some of our fourth graders last year, discovered, caterpillars starting to pupate and into some bean leaves.

And they got permission from their teacher, took those back to the classroom.

And lo and behold, in three weeks and about a week later, we released three butterflies.

So it's it's exciting.

They they see the applications, and then they take them and do it themselves.

So we're, that's how we'll be using, the data.

And we're in the process now of drawing some of those conclusions and getting ready to, plant, in this very fine weather.

every time they see me, it's like, are we are we in the garden today or are we in the garden today?

And, when they come out, the energy is very clearly there.

They're very excited.

And that's one of the things we want.

We want that energy to express itself.

So it's not to be in an inhibited environment.

We want them to learn, but, we want it to be the type of learning that they enjoy.

There's an old saying that whatever you learn in pleasure is never forgotten.

And so we don't want them coming out of the garden.

Oh, my gosh, we're gonna have to do some garden math or we're going to do some garden science.

But it's like we want them to learn math and science.

But in the context of what we're doing.

And everything we do in the garden is Stem related in some, some form or another.

And, so it's very easy to provide an enrichment environment that also, supports their academic, environment.

One of the activities that we use to help students, understand the pollination process is what we call the great pollinator race.

And students line up, at one end of the course, and they are given a pincer.

So which is like, what an insect uses to gather pollen.

And then they run to the other end of the course as fast as they can, where there is a flower and the flower has pollen, which is cotton balls, and then they pick up as many cotton balls as they can with their pincer, and run back and drop it in their home bucket, and pass off the pincer to the next, person behind them.

And then they do that.

And the first team to finish is the winner.

One rule is they cannot use their hand.

Okay.

That's so they they can only use the the insect pincer, to to pick up the pollen.

Other than that, there there's not a rule.

So it's very interesting to see, like, will a student pick up one cotton ball or will he or she go for as many as is possible?

And, but that's up to the up to the student.

And of course, that's the way insects are too.

They take as much pollen as they can carry.

It's really important for everyone to understand the importance of honeybees and their pollination.

A lot of people have a fear of bees being aggressive and stinging them.

being aggressive and stinging them.

But there's really not a fear that needs to be present with honeybees.

They, simply just want to work and do their job.

simply just want to work and do their job.

It's amazing to be able to turn kids on to It's amazing to be able to turn kids on to how safe they can be around the bees, and how fascinated they can be with the structure of how the bees work.

So, the ag department is working hard to find different ways to get into colleges, high schools, get volunteers to participate in schools.

And so that's a big focus we're trying to, build the bridge for in terms of how do we get young people involved in beekeeping because a majority of the beekeepers are over 60.

So we have to find our replacements to help us overcome these challenges, that we're facing with beekeeping.

Not only are pollinators fascinating and interesting to watch.

They are very important in our ecosystem.

They all have an important place, and I think that it's just to have the knowledge that each bug, each plant, each little bit of pollen, they're spreading is going to make a difference in our ecosystem and in our food chain and, just in our whole overall environment.

A lot of homeowners make mistakes in their yards by focusing on having the greenest, lowest mowed yards in the neighborhood.

Where, naturally speaking, there's a lot of clovers, wildflowers.

Those things that the bees need early in the season to come out of winter and start to grow their colony.

Also, the use of herbicides, insecticides, those things have residual, ongoing, issues that they create for bees that they bring back to the colony and spread through their babies and their brood.

So I think it's really cool when you're driving down the road and you end up at a stoplight.

And I'm seeing it in a lot of these towns that pollinator plots are now being put just right in the middle of the median.

I've even seen them in the roundabouts.

And this is just a place that you you normally haven't seen them before.

They all have native grasses, which are a great place for a nesting site, as well as some of the nectary plants.

In five years I hope the bee population in Alabama is is thriving because both us at Auburn and Alabama Extension and the Ag Experiment Station have been working hard and making great inroads, connecting with our stakeholders, working together so that we're, performing proper management techniques such as adoption of IPM.

But also we're maintaining our lands, properly nice floral resources, natural habitat promotion, fewer, environmental contaminants.

That's our that's our vision for Alabama.

And the bee population is that we're we're thriving and we're we're working hard towards that.

There are a couple of ways that we as Alabamians can help protect pollinators.

One is the provision of that sustainable habitat.

So maybe it's not, cutting back your perennials all the way in the winter.

A lot of our insects overwinter in those hollow stems and plant debris.

Maybe it's adding some, pollinator plants to your perennial garden or to your landscape.

And then the other, step or the other thing that I would mention that is helpful is just responsible pesticide usage.

We, you know, we want to encourage kind of the IPM approach and integrated pest management, where we start with non-chemical methods, not saying that we don't ever use chemicals, but we want to be responsible in that use.

And always at time, those applications appropriately select the right product.

And of course, always read the label and use the right amount.

the best recommendation I can give to growers, farmers, people with backyard gardens is really following that label rate on any kind of pesticide they want to apply to, to either kill like a harmful insect or even a herb, herb or other plant, for example.

So following the label is most important.

Choosing products when possible that are not toxic or highly toxic to bees.

Also, applying that pesticide at certain times that are reducing the risk to the bees.

For example, not during bloom time, maybe at night and not in the daytime.

So you're really trying to look to limit the exposure that those honey bees or other bees may have to the, to the product that's being applied.

So overall, bee populations in Alabama are really impacted by individual homeowners.

When they band together, they can create pollinator corridors, which are just individual homeowners and landowners who have decided to go pesticide free or low pesticide in their landscapes.

And also use native plants.

And as our populations of butterflies and other native insects are migrating, it gives them safe passage and it also gives native pollinators who are trying to expand their area, a safe area to forage in.

One challenge that homeowners face whenever they're trying to start a pollinator garden is, in my opinion, is they start too large so it can become overwhelming and, you know, they may want to incorporate a lot of different plants and there are many plants that support pollinators.

But I think the best method, the best plan of attack, is to start small, get your feet under you, make sure that that small, pollinator garden is successful and then expand as you go.

You know, on our own properties where the power lines run.

I think that's a very underutilized space that we could be using for pollinator both nectary resources and habitat.

We, we usually let trees grow up, grow through it.

That has to be managed.

And so that's that's not a good idea.

And you know, lawns, they have to be consistently mowed and taken care of.

So it's a great place to put in a pollinator habitat.

So I've got two really great perennials that I love to point people to.

The first one is purple cone flower.

And purple cone flower is a long flowering native plant.

As beautiful purple blooms that you can even use as a cut flower.

But they're covered in all sorts of pollinators all summer long.

And then in the winter, if you leave those stem standing, it gives the birds a nice food source over the winter.

The second one, if you don't have full sun, is called mountain mint.

Mountain mint's another is taller native, about three feet tall, and it blooms all summer long and like its name says, it has a kind of a minty smell.

And it's just a lovely native pollinator plant that's super easy to grow.

For anyone is interested in starting a pollinator garden at home doesn't have to be a large endeavor.

You can do it in containers, for example, and to begin to get some good information about that, I highly recommend the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service website, which is aces.edu, and you simply put it in the search box.

Pollinator garden, and you'll find a wealth of information not only about pollinator gardens in general, but about, how to create an environment for a specific pollinator, such as butterflies or bees.