Please join us Tuesday, May 7th from 6:45 PM to 8:30 PM for our May program: The Bumble Bee Atlas with Gabriela Garrison of NCWRC. (note the change in the day, we will be meeting on Tuesday vs our usual Thursday this month)

Program: There is growing evidence indicating bumble bee populations are severely declining across the globe. Bumble bees are highly efficient pollinators that are critical components of healthy ecosystems.  As such, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee state wildlife agencies have partnered with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to implement the Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas (SEBBA), a community science effort to track bumble bee species, specifically Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Limited knowledge of bumble bee demographics, species presence, and forage and nesting preferences has precluded state agencies from fully assessing their status and enacting conservation measures. Information gathered through the SEBBA will allow government agencies, land managers, and conservation partners to develop best management practices that will specifically address bumble bee conservation and management, including strategies to help bumble bees adapt and exist in a changing climate.

Speaker Bio: Gabriela Garrison is the Eastern Piedmont Habitat Conservation Coordinator for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.  She works with developers, consultants, and government agencies to produce ecologically friendly guidance that minimizes impacts to wildlife and priority habitat in a developing landscape.  She also works in support of the Green Growth Toolbox, a non-regulatory guide that provides the appropriate tools for NC towns, cities, and counties to grow while conserving wildlife and natural resources.  She earned a B.S. in Zoology, with a minor in Forestry, from NC State University and an M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from Virginia Tech.  In 2017, she formed the NC Pollinator Conservation Alliance (NCPCA), a partnership that works to promote pollinator and habitat conservation across the State.  For more information on the NCPCA, please visit www.ncpollinatoralliance.org. 

Photo by Heather Russell