Five small things you can do to help bees this spring

30 Apr

Five small things you can do to help bees this spring

By Environmental Action Comments Off on Five small things you can do to help bees this spring

Spring is here — and that means life is blooming once again.

 

 

Pollinators need our protection.

As temperatures warm, flowers are poking up from the thawed ground, and bees are stirring to pollinate them. But between pesticides and global warming, our best pollinators are still in trouble.

We’ve put together a list of some small things you can do to help our bees this spring.

Here’s how you can help save the bees at home.

For nearly all the flowers we’ll see this spring, we can thank pollinators like bees. Here are some ways you can show your appreciation for them in the coming weeks:

1) Keep things native: Many bee species have evolved alongside specific types of flowers that grow locally in their region. Ensuring your garden and yard contain these local flowers will increase the number of bees (and other pollinators) your garden will appeal to.1

2) Hold back on the mulch: Many of America’s indigenous bee species nest in the ground, so leaving some patches bare will make sure that mulch won’t get in their way.2

3) Build the Grand Bee-dapest Hotel: You can find small wooden “bee hotels” for purchase online and at garden stores, but if you’d rather save some scratch, you can drill holes in a dead tree that’s still standing, building habitat for bee species that make their homes in pre-dug holes.3

4) Go easy on the weeding: Lots of different plants that we would consider weeds still produce pollen and nectar, providing a nice (and native) meal for bees. Avoid weeding or mowing early in the spring and your pollinators will thank you.4

5) Leave the chemicals behind: Pesticides, particularly a harmful class called neonicotinoids (or neonics), have contributed to a tremendous collapse of bee populations in the past few decades. Already, vast swathes of our country are toxic for bees, so one of the best things you can do is to avoid using these bee killers.5

Our bees are struggling right now. We here at Environmental Action are working to save them, and you can do your part too by following the tips above.

 

  1. Jennifer S. Holland, “9 Ways You Can Help Bees and Other Pollinators At Home,” National Geographic, May 24, 2015.
  2. Jennifer S. Holland, “9 Ways You Can Help Bees and Other Pollinators At Home,” National Geographic, May 24, 2015.
  3. Jennifer S. Holland, “9 Ways You Can Help Bees and Other Pollinators At Home,” National Geographic, May 24, 2015.
  4. “Why Bees Are Important And How To Attract Them To Your Garden,” The Environmental Magazine, last accessed April 20, 2022.
  5. Stephen Leahy, “Insect ‘apocalypse’ in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides,” National Geographic, August 6, 2019.