Putting the 'bee' in biodiversity
Land trusts across the country are lowering barriers to the recovery of the nation's most vulnerable wildlife species — those listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, as well as species listed at the state level.
“The first endangered species I ever found was about 20 yards from my back door,” said Jason Taylor, executive director of Bur Oak Land Trust, based in eastern Iowa.
People tend to think of polar bears or bald eagles when they think of federally endangered species, he says. When people overlook the endangered species in their own backyards, it can be a barrier to those hometown species’ recovery.
Five years ago, Taylor found the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee in the plot of prairie he had restored in his Iowa City yard.
If the endangered bumble bee could be found in an urban prairie, he thought, then Bur Oak Land Trust’s preserves might harbor them too. But how could the Bur Oak Land Trust, which has five staff members, quickly survey its preserves for the bumble bee?
Connecting residents to their local landscape is part of the land trust’s mission as Taylor sees it, whether that’s by introducing them to Iowa’s native cactus, its 36 species of native orchids or a federally endangered bumble bee. This philosophy provided a solution to the survey problem. Sixteen volunteers attended a tutorial on identifying the species. Taylor and the community scientists found the bumble bee at five of Bur Oak Land Trust’s properties.
The land trust-trained community scientists did not stop when the survey was over. They continued to search — and find — the endangered bumble bee throughout Bur Oak Land Trust’s home county, making it a state hotspot for the species and a hometown endangered species success story. Thanks to the sharp eyes of its staff and volunteers, Bur Oak Land Trust is taking steps to manage the land for the rusty-patched bumble bee’s habitat requirements, with both healthy prairie and nearby woodland.