PCSWCD bee sustainable pollinator workshop June 21

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Pollinators include bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles. They are vital to sustainable agriculture and healthy ecosystems.
    Pollinators also support terrestrial wildlife and help to keep our watersheds healthy. In the U.S., insects pollinate crops that produce between $20 billion and $30 billion worth of products annually.

    In a free workshop, participants will learn about the importance of pollinators, pollinator habitat and conservation assistance programs to encourage pollinators on the farm or in the garden. Take home valuable advice and a native plant list to support these beneficial insects. The bee sustainable pollinator workshop will be held on Saturday, June 21 from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. This workshop, hosted by the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD), in partnership with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Piscataquis County Office and sponsored by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will be held at American Legion Hall Post 29, 78 Park Street, followed by an outdoor session at a local landowner’s property.
    Jeff Norment,  biologist with the USDA/NRCS, will start the presentation with a general overview of pollinators and their importance to agriculture. Norment has 26 years of professional experience in the fields of wildlife ecology and management.
    In Maine, he has been active in conserving the federally- endangered Atlantic salmon, state-endangered New England cottontail rabbit, as well as trying to promote pollinator conservation.
    Ana Bonstedt, home horticulture coordinator at UMaine Extension in Piscataquis County, will show a power point presentation on the biology of honeybees and speak about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). She was born in Peru and attended the National University of Piura there. Her work experience includes among other things, being a beekeeper, and managing 2000 hives, which were strategically located in one of the most productive fruit-growing valleys of northern Perú.
    Eric Venturini, a M.S. candidate in the ecology and environmental sciences program at the University of Maine, will lead an outdoor session at the botanically diverse Richard and Caroline Swett Forest in Dover-Foxcroft. Venturini will talk about native plants for pollinators and what to do to enhance property for pollinators. He has a diverse background in resource management, research, and agriculture. His role on the Pollination Security Team is to study the influence that bee pasture has on native bee communities in Maine’s lowbush blueberry fields.
    David Power, NRCS district conservationist, will talk about conservation assistance programs that encourage pollinator habitat that are offered by NRCS.
    This workshop is the fourth in a series of four free workshops that have been hosted by the PCSWCD and USDA/NRCS under a cooperative agreement.
    For more information, to pre-register, or if you need special accommodations, please contact Joanna Tarrazi, PCSWCD’s executive director or Lynn Lubas, PCSWCD technical coordinator by calling 564-2321, ext. 3, emailing info@piscataquisswcd.org or stopping into the USDA Service Center, located at 42 Engdahl Drive in the Pine Crest Business Park in Dover-Foxcroft.