Here’s how to help boost bee populations in the Sacramento region

You’re probably already familiar with bumblebees and honey bees. But there’s a lot more to the insect than that. 

California alone is home to over 1,600 species of bees, including some you might never have heard of — like digger bees. Longhorn bees. Blue orchard bees. 

And as pollinators, they play an integral role in state ecosystems. 

“It’s also important for human health and well-being,” says Angela Laws, an endangered species conservation biologist. “So much of the food that we eat is dependent on insect pollinators.”

Laws works with the Xerces Society, a nonprofit dedicated to invertebrate conservation, and also helps take care of the Grassland Garden in Sacramento’s South Natomas neighborhood. It’s a community-led garden dedicated to attracting pollinators — including a variety of bee species. 

CapRadio spoke with Laws about the importance of bees, common misconceptions about them and why it’s so important to support their survival. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What are some common misconceptions people might have about bees? 

I think most people don't know there's so many kinds of bees. And they don't know how much they vary in size. They can be teeny tiny, just a few millimeters up to over an inch in size. 

Most bees don't live in hives. They're solitary. So it's one female doing all the work of digging a nest, collecting the pollen to feed her own offspring. So they're not living in hives. And most bees are ground-nesting bees — about 70% of all bees nest in the ground. They dig their nest that can be, sometimes, several feet deep.

About 30% of bees are cavity-nesting bees, so they'll nest in the stems of plants. It's only about 1% of bees that are hive-nesting bees like honeybees, and that includes the bumblebees. 

So I think most people probably aren't aware of the diversity of bees. And I think the other thing is that most of our are native bees or wild bees are unlikely to sting. You're less likely to be stung by a native bee than by a honey bee.

What kinds of bees do you see at the Grassland Garden? 

We've seen a variety of different bees — we see green sweat bees. We’ve seen digger bees. We’ve seen longhorn bees. Blue orchard bees. A variety of different species using the garden. 

A metallic green sweat bee rests on a globemallow flower at the Grassland Garden in South Natomas.Courtesy of Angela Laws

One really exciting find was some cuckoo bees. In the evenings, sometimes the males will line up on grasses for the night. They'll just sleep attached to a plant. So, we found a row of cuckoo bees on the grass and they have these smiley face markings on their backs and that was just really cool.

A group of cuckoo bees spotted at the Grassland Garden in South Natomas.Courtesy of Hazel Aragon

Cuckoo bees are unique in that they don't dig a nest and collect pollen for their offspring. They find a nest that another bee has dug, swoop in, lay their eggs in there and leave — similar to what cuckoo birds do, so they're nest parasites. And in order to have cuckoo bees, you have to have a lot of other bees. 

So, these are like indicator species, showing that we have a healthy bee population here. To see those bees show up felt like an indicator that we were really succeeding in creating habitat. 

There’s been a lot of reporting on declining bee populations in the United States. What’s contributing to that loss, and why is it so important to conserve them?

The widespread use of pesticides is a real problem and habitat loss, climate change, of course, is having an impact. I think the effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent over time.

I think it’s important [to conserve them] because bees do really important work. Pollination is really important for terrestrial ecosystems. 

There's also research showing that diversity is important. So, in areas where you have many species of bees, in addition to honeybees, you get better crop production, you get better pollination than if you just have honeybees alone. So, the more biodiversity we can protect, the more we can sustain that important service of pollination that we rely on for our own health and well-being into the future. 

The Grassland Garden, located in South Natomas, is a community-led effort to help out pollinators.Courtesy of Angela Laws

What would you say is the best thing a person in the Sacramento region can do to help bee populations? 

The best thing you can do is plant flowers. If all you have is a balcony, that's great. If you have some space in a yard, plant some flowers. And don't spray pesticides around your home. 

[For planting], we recommend native plants. In general, native plants are really attractive to pollinators. Some ornamental plants that have been bred to be really showy or really fragrant sometimes lose their ability to provide a lot of high-quality pollen and nectar. So, we generally advocate for native plants

And plant a variety of species. If you have lots of different sizes and shapes of flowers, that will attract different sizes and shapes of pollinators. Then make sure you have something blooming throughout the season.

If you go to Xerces website, we have great pollinator plant lists for the region. 

[At the Grassland Garden], we're out here the third Saturday of the month from 9:00 to 11:00 AM and Thursday evenings. We have a website with information or you can just show up. We have extra gear, we have gloves and knee pads and we'd always love to have more people come out and help us pull weeds and and look for bees and butterflies. 

You’ve spent years thinking about, educating people on and working to conserve bees. What is it about them that keeps you doing this work? 

They're adorable. That's a superficial answer, but they're fun. It's fun to watch them.

When you think about conservation — and I think about endangered species a lot — I feel like in my day-to-day life, there's not a lot that I can do to help snow leopards or tigers, but I can do a lot to help bees. And when you plant a garden, they show up immediately.

And so it's that gratifying feeling that you're helping, and you can see the payoff almost at once. As more species show up — and over time we get more and more species coming into the garden — it's just really satisfying. We’ve built great communities, great people, great volunteers.