Session: Native Pollinators and the Native Seed Industry – A Natural Alliance
Wednesday 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Ballroom 2
Eric Mader, Moderator
10:00 a.m.
Pollinator Conservation -Opportunities for the Native Seed Industry
Eric Mader
Presentation (PDF)
This talk will discuss the value of diverse plantings and the need for local eco-type seed sources. In addition Eric will touch on opportunities to market native seed to conventional agricultural industries, and present a short case study of pollinator conservation efforts by one large Midwestern native seed producer (and how they saved tens of thousands of dollars in their own production system as a result).
Eric Mader is the National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. In this role he works to raise awareness of native pollinator conservation techniques among growers and government agencies, including the NRCS. His previous work includes commercial beekeeping and crop consulting for the native seed industry. He is an Assistant Professor of Extension with the University of Minnesota’s Department of Entomology, and has authored several books and agency management plans for native pollinators.
10:30 a.m.
Milkweed Increase Project: Building markets for milkweed seed and increasing the availability of less common milkweed species to benefit monarch butterflies
Priya Shahani
Presentation (PDF)
Milkweed is an essential host plant for maintaining monarch butterfly populations and protecting their vast migrations. While regionally-sourced seeds of native milkweed species are indeed available in many parts of the U.S., availability of appropriate milkweed seeds is a limitation to habitat enhancement work in other parts of the country. We seek to support work to increase commercial availability of native milkweed seeds in key regions, while simultaneously building a national market for milkweed seeds by facilitating their use in both small-scale and large-scale habitat enhancement work nationally. Our preliminary assessments have suggested Texas, California, Florida and Arizona as areas where enhancing milkweed seed availability will be a priority.
Priya Shahani is the Program Coordinator for the Monarch Joint Venture, a conservation program that is working across the continental U.S. to protect the monarch butterfly and its migrations. Habitat enhancement work for monarchs and other pollinators is a priority for the Monarch Joint Venture, and availability of appropriate native plant seeds is of utmost concern. Prior, Priya worked on habitat restoration projects and native seed issues as a natural areas ecologist with the WA State DNR. Priya holds a doctorate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from U.C. Santa Cruz.
11:00 a.m.
Producing and Using Native Seed and Plants for Pollinator Restoration Sites on California Farmland
John Anderson
Presentation (PDF)
There is increasing interest in restoring pollinator and beneficial insect habitat to the intensively managed farming systems of California. Most of the emphasis has been in establishing native trees, shrubs, and perennial grassland species in edge corridors or hedgerows along farm borders. These include drainages, irrigation canals, odd corners and roadsides. Using a suite of species that flower throughout the year has proven to work well to harbor many beneficial insects including important pollinators. More recently there is a move to increase the plant palette by using many of the native annual and biennial wildflowers that occur in California natural habitats. Increasing plant diversity is expected to increase diversity of pollinators. In this talk I give a brief overview of what has been accomplished over the past 15-20 years and then illustrate some of the current research that is being done to identify appropriate plant species and species mixes, and what insect pollinators are using them. I conclude by discussing establishment and maintenance techniques that can be incorporated into existing farming operations. Collaboration between universities, agencies, NGOs, farmers, and seed suppliers is playing a role in combining perspectives.
John Anderson is the Owner/Manager of Hedgerow Farms, a commercial native California seed production operation that grows over 50 species of native grassland plants including grasses, forbs, sedges, and rushes. Since the mid 1980s John has implemented and has been associated with numerous grassland, riparian, and wetland restoration projects and has accumulated a wealth of knowledge relative to establishment techniques and follow-up management. Hedgerow Farms has become a regional educational center for demonstrating and teaching farmland ecosystem management practices in California’s Central Valley agricultural landscapes. John is a founding member and past president of the California Native Grasslands Association and has been an organizer and instructor for their grassland restoration workshops that began in the early 1990s. He is a past director of the Yolo County RCD, and a past board member for Audubon California and the National Audubon Society. John holds a D.V.M. from UC Davis and was a staff veterinarian at the California Primate Research Center for over 20 years.
11:30 a.m.
Planting for pollinators; Native plant and weed preferences of the yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii)
Alexandra Harmon-Threatt
Presentation (PDF)
When it comes to native bees it is often assumed native plants resources are good and weeds are bad but all plants are not created equally. Using Bombus vosnesenskii as a model species, we determined the preference for each plant species as a pollen resource in natural environments. We have also done some analysis on nutrition to better understand B. vosnesenskii’s preference for some species over others. Determining the plants preferred by this species in natural habitats will be beneficial for conservation planning and hedgerow improvements.
Alexandra Harmon-Threatt is currently a fourth year PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management with Dr. Claire Kremen. Her primary research focuses on understanding native pollinators preferences for native plants in natural and semi-natural environments. She hopes to use the information from her study to improve conservation efforts of native bees by tailoring planting and improvements to resources most actively sought by native bees.
