You want pollinators to make their home on your range

Alberta Farmer Express, June 27, 2017 by Jill Burkhardt: There is a buzz on range- and pasture lands. And we really need to pay attention to native pollinators and the benefits that they provide, says a rangeland ecologist. “Pollinators are critical to rangelands themselves, and the plants that are there,” said Cameron Carlyle, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, who is not only studying the benefits pollinators provide, but tracking how well they are doing. The range of pollinator species is diverse but they roughly fall into two groups, he said. “Bumblebees, are the large fuzzy bees that we commonly think of when we think of bees. Solitary bees tend to be smaller and take many forms. Bees aren’t the only pollinators — moths, butterflies and flies are other insect pollinators — but generally most pollination done by insects in our grasslands is done by bees.” Read more about native pollinators on rangelands.