Bee expert: A wilder lawn can let pollinators thrive

RDBA Founder Charity Briere studied entomology at the U of A in the 90s, and temporarily took up beekeeping in 2014. Now working on her Master of Science thesis on the impacts of urban honeybees on Red Deer’s bumblebee population, Briere believes No Mow May, or at least the principle of it, is a great way to get people thinking about the ecology of their own yards.

“It’s only going to be effective if you’re already welcoming flowering plants into your lawn (yarrow, dandelions, clover, etc.), otherwise there’s no point in letting it get long if it’s just a crop of grass,” she says. “In England, there’s a very different climate, so if we were to do something similar, it would be more effective later in the season.”

The most common bee-friendly flora in Red Deer includes dandelions and clover; most abundant in June and July. Native flowers like willow, goldenrod, fireweed and wild rose, she says, are more subtle.

In 2019, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières researches found reducing lawn mowing intensity can lead to increased biodiversity. American research suggests mowing once every two to three weeks — as opposed to weekly — can too be beneficial.

It’s estimated there are roughly 250 species of bees in Red Deer, in five families: mason, mining, bumble, sweat and plasterer. There are over 900 in Canada.

“A lot of people are aware of bee declines, and want to help bees, which is so important. What most people don’t realize is that this does not only pertain to honeybees. Honeybees have been impacted by Colony Collapse Disorder. However, wild bees are also seeing declines, and they’re harder to track because they are wild,” she explains.

Briere also says if you’re thinking of beekeeping, first ask yourself why?

If it’s for the honey, buy from a local producer, she says. If it’s for the interest, the RDBA can bring you along for an experience with an established keeper, or take the beekeeping certificate offered by Red Deer College this June.

“Is it for pollination purposes? Successful bee keeping requires money and management, and you could create habitat in your yard to support the wild bees that will take care of themselves for free. To ‘save the bees’ as pollinator researcher Jeff Ollerton said, ‘Keeping hives to save the bees is like keeping chickens to save the birds.’”

Keeping them poorly can be a waste of time and money, not to mention it can cause problems for yourself and neighbours, she adds.

Meantime, Briere draws a link between the plight of bees and other pollinators to COVID-19.

“It’s making people think more about where our food is coming from, and how it gets to us. Seed sales have surged immensely because people who hadn’t tried before want to build a garden.

“Things that we grow which do need pollination (peas, beans, apples, pumpkins) often have better success when there are lots of wild bees around. People having more time at home, getting out into their yards, and taking the time to look more closely could help get them thinking about what’s going on around them that they hadn’t had the time to do so before COVID-19.”

As for not cutting your grass, Briere reiterates while there are geography-based tweaks one could make to the No Mow May plan, it can’t hurt to let your lawn be wilder.

“Like people, pollinators need food, and spaces to live and nest that are safe. Nearly all our local pollinators spend winter hiding in leaf litter, clumps of plants and grasses, under tree bark, or burrowed into the soil,” she says.

“Mowing flowers popping up in our lawns removes nectar and pollen sources. Raking all the leaves in the fall, clearing out garden debris early in the spring, and rototilling early all remove safe hibernating spaces [and could] destroy them before they get a chance to wake up.”

by Josh Hall

Bee expert: A wilder lawn can let pollinators thrive

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