After being in commercial beekeeping for several years, we realized our focus more and more was less the commercial and financial aspect of beekeeping and more the environmental impact that bees have. Our focus shifted away from a for profit apiary, bee farm, to conservation. We came up with the idea of establishing a pollinator sanctuary which would benefit all native pollinators and not just honeybees. It has been proven that native pollinators are many times more effective at pollinating native crops and plants than honeybees. We created a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit called BCF Pollinator Sanctuary. Our goal is to use the fifty acres that we have to create a pollinator friendly environment which can grow food and create habitat in a safe environment for all native pollinators as well as honeybees here in Alabama. Through the research that we’ve seen, plants can be grown that will create habitat year around here in Alabama. This can be done not just in the spring, summer, fall, but also there are things that can be grown that can create habitat and food over winter for native pollinators and that would also benefit honeybees. We see this as a long-term project to continue to create better and better habitats for native pollinators here in Alabama as well as our honeybees. We are working with the Extension Services as well as Auburn University to analyze the soil and growing conditions as well as a biologist from The Alabama Wildlife Federation who is helping to identify the best plants for our specific needs here in terms of available acreage, moisture levels, soil makeup, Et cetera. In this way we hope to create, over time, the most beneficial sanctuary for native pollinators here in Alabama. It has been theorized and research by the the USDA suggests that different pollinators specifically seek out the most beneficial pollen for themselves. This type of research can help pollinator sanctuaries, such as ours, to grow a diverse population of plants targeted specially to the health and wellbeing of pollinators. Our goal is not to create commercially viable crops but to plant things that are strictly the most beneficial to the native pollinators and our honeybees whether those plants in and of themselves are profitable.
The survival and thrivability of local pollinators is extremely important, not just to us, but the planet as a whole. The whole idea behind a sanctuary is to, not just create a space for the pollinators, but to raise awareness locally as well as regionally about the importance of pollinators and to ultimately try to educate people about the importance of pollinators and their wellbeing. These things will, in the long term, hopefully raise awareness about how important pollinators are to our survival. The collapse of native pollinators and honeybees would be catastrophic to our food source and to mankind. Therefore, the extra effort that we put into trying to create this to help pollinators and help educate others is, we believe, worth our time and effort.
There’s a great deal of research going into the changing climate. Native pollinators and honeybees are highly evolved creatures. They become very stressed as the climate changes. Whether the climate changes are man-made or natural, in general, people agree that the pollinators are becoming more stressed. Not just with climate change but with urbanization, the increased use of pesticides, the regular usage of herbicides to kill off things that people don’t like the appearance of. Plants that, in fact, in many cases are very beneficial to native pollinators and honeybees. Many plants that people don’t want in their lawn are some of pollinators favorite plants, such as dandelions for instance. Dandelions produce a lot of nectar and pollen and the honey they produce from it very nutritional for bees. Many people, however, don’t like the way the dandelion looks, so they spray them and kill them. This makes life for native pollinators and honeybees much more difficult. Even without a changing climate, which many scientists are now convinced is happening, there are so many stressors on the pollinator populations. Whether it be hummingbirds, butterflies, any one of 4000 different bees found in North America, all of these are incredibly important to agriculture and our food sources. Without more education about their importance, people will continue using chemicals which harm pollinators and ultimately destroy the food production here and worldwide as pollinator populations continue to decline.
Helena and Greg Watson
The survival and thrivability of local pollinators is extremely important, not just to us, but the planet as a whole. The whole idea behind a sanctuary is to, not just create a space for the pollinators, but to raise awareness locally as well as regionally about the importance of pollinators and to ultimately try to educate people about the importance of pollinators and their wellbeing. These things will, in the long term, hopefully raise awareness about how important pollinators are to our survival. The collapse of native pollinators and honeybees would be catastrophic to our food source and to mankind. Therefore, the extra effort that we put into trying to create this to help pollinators and help educate others is, we believe, worth our time and effort.
There’s a great deal of research going into the changing climate. Native pollinators and honeybees are highly evolved creatures. They become very stressed as the climate changes. Whether the climate changes are man-made or natural, in general, people agree that the pollinators are becoming more stressed. Not just with climate change but with urbanization, the increased use of pesticides, the regular usage of herbicides to kill off things that people don’t like the appearance of. Plants that, in fact, in many cases are very beneficial to native pollinators and honeybees. Many plants that people don’t want in their lawn are some of pollinators favorite plants, such as dandelions for instance. Dandelions produce a lot of nectar and pollen and the honey they produce from it very nutritional for bees. Many people, however, don’t like the way the dandelion looks, so they spray them and kill them. This makes life for native pollinators and honeybees much more difficult. Even without a changing climate, which many scientists are now convinced is happening, there are so many stressors on the pollinator populations. Whether it be hummingbirds, butterflies, any one of 4000 different bees found in North America, all of these are incredibly important to agriculture and our food sources. Without more education about their importance, people will continue using chemicals which harm pollinators and ultimately destroy the food production here and worldwide as pollinator populations continue to decline.
Helena and Greg Watson