'Bee Atlas' project turns up 26 new or rare species buzzing around Washington [View all]

More than two dozen new and rare bee species were documented during the first year of a new Washington state project that’s designed to get a better understanding of the insects.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is seeking new bee collection volunteers as its Bee Atlas initiative enters its second year.

“We’re already learning fascinating things about our native bees, and we’re only getting started,” said Karen Wright, pollinator taxonomist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture. “But we still need more help. Washington is a large state and there are some counties where we don’t have a single volunteer. We’d love to have more people trained and out there looking for and recording our native bees.”

The Washington Bee Atlas is modeled after the Oregon Bee Atlas, which began in 2019 as part of the broader Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas. That program began in 2018 and monitors bumble bee activity in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/bee-atlas-project-turns-up-26-new-or-rare-species-buzzing-around-washington/