The load of golden-yellow pollen collected by this leafcutter bee (Megachile sp.)can be clearly seen in its "pollen brush" on the underside of its abdomen.

Sweat bees, like this Augochorella sp. halictid bee, are generalists, able to exploit awide range of flowers and survive in degraded or weedy plant communities.

are in decline, and in places sufferinglocal extinction. The primary reason forthis is the destruction, modification,and fragmentation of habitat. Urbangrowth and intensified agriculture andforestry have been significant causes ofthis. The habitat areas that remain areoften isolated patches that have been

beetles, flies, wasps, and butterflies, butit is bees - especially native bees -that play a dominant role in plantreproduction.

For a process that is so important tous, pollination is sadly ignored, as arethe creatures that provide this service.Research indicates that our native bees

Native pollinators onyour golf course.by M. D. SHEPHERDand v: J. TEPEDINO

NOTHING causes more excite-ment on a golf course thanaccomplishing the golfer's

dream, a hole-in-one. But to otherorganisms, small and unobtrusive,scoring a hole-in-one is all in a day'swork. We refer to bees, those uncom-monly beneficial insects that collectfood from flowers and deliver. it, un-erringly, to a hole in the ground or inwood, where it succors their offspring.We should welcome them to our golfcourses, but not because we expecttheir hole-finding proficiency to rub offon us. No, we should do it to be goodneighbors.

When you think of bees, chances areyou think of those that live in hives orcolonies like honeybees, or bumble-bees, or of picnics disturbed by yellowjackets (which are wasps, not bees).Most people are surprised to discoverthat most of the more than four thou-sand species of native bees in theUnited States don't fit that description.Indeed, most bees are easily over-looked because they are solitary, notsocial, and most people never comeinto contact with them. Out of sightand out of mind, these bees playa vitalrole in renewing our environment bypollinating the majority of floweringplants; we can be good neighborssimply by providing them with habitat.

Pollination is one of the most impor-tant ecological services that animalsperform for plants. It is a process thatholds together the very fabric of ourenvironment, those rich and diverseplant communities that clothe the soiland provide food for us and habitat forwildlife. Many different animals helpwith this: hummingbirds, bats, moths,

TheBirdiesandTheBees

JULY/AUGUST 2000 17

Encouraging pollinators on the golf course does not pose a risk to golfers, so nesting sites and plant materials can be placed close tothe playing areas. Bee nesting blocks can be mounted on fences, placed in trees; or fixed to stakes in suitable areas (Wildhorse GolfCourse, Mission, Oregon).

degraded by invasive plant species,pesticide use, and changes in landmanagement. Fortunately, populationsof many native bee species are quiteresilient and even compatible with lightor moderate human activity if suppliedwith a few necessary resources. Wehope to illustrate here how somesimple changes to out-of-play areas willbenefit pollinators, help to beautify andnaturalize your golf course, and makeyou a good neighbor to the surroundingcommunity.

Life Cycle and Habitatof Native Bees

The native bees of North Americarange in length from less than an eighthof an inch to more than an inch. Theircolors vary from nondescript brown orblack to metallic green or blue, theirmarkings from unmarked to bright red,white, or yellow stripes, and their hairi-ness from nearly bald (though mostare quite hirsute) to profuse "punky"orange. Often their names reflect theway they build nests: plasterer bees,

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leafcutter bees, mason bees, carderbees, digger bees, and carpenter bees.Others are named after particularhabits, such as cuckoo bees that layeggs in the nests of other bee species,or sweat bees that drink sweat frommammals.

Despite such diversity, they sharetwo important characteristics: all arestrict vegetarians that draw their sus-tenance from nectar and pollen, andthey are quite placid, faster to flee thanto sting. The solitary life led by mostmeans they don't have a colony todefend, and neither solitary nor socialspecies are aggressive when visitingflowers. No special equipment or pro-tective clothing is needed when work-ing with native bees - unlike honey-bees - and encouraging native bees onyour course will not create any threatto golfers. You'll have more problemsfrom yellow jackets attracted to trashcans than you'll ever have from thesegentle pollinators.

Solitary bee females perform a multi-tude of duties and do so unassisted by

workers or drones. Females mate soonafter emerging as adults and then spendthe rest of their brief, three- to four-week lives searching for, selecting, andsometimes excavating their own bur-rows, preparing their nesting tunnelsto receive the pollen and nectar theywill collect, and laying eggs. A few beespecies excavate their nests within thesoft central pith of stems and twigs,but many more use abandoned beetleburrows in dead snags. Others dig anest in bare or sparsely vegetated soil.The nests of some species will haveonly one cell, but most will have many.These cells are often in a line filling thehole or burrow, but some are in com-plex, multi-chambered tunnels.

A source of nectar and pollen isessential for bees. Adults of both sexesfeed on nectar and sometimes pollen,commonly visiting hundreds of flowerson a foraging trip. Females also collectboth nectar and pollen as food fortheir offspring. This pollen is taken tothe nest securely carried in either a"pollen brush" on the underside of the

Matthew Shepherd checks one of the bee nesting boxes at Wildhorse Golf Course(Mission, Oregon). The holes with plugs have been filled with egg cells and sealedwith mud.

abdomen or in "pollen baskets" onthe hind legs, depending on species.During foraging, other pollen grains getcaught in the bee's body hairs and aredeposited on the stigmas of subse-quently visited flowers. Thus, almost byaccident, bees perform one of thefundamental relationships that keepecosystems healthy.

During their active life, bees will notcollect pollen and nectar from all theplant species that are in bloom, butdifferent bee species will differ greatlyin the number of plants they areattracted to and can exploit. Some beespecies can be defined as generalists,i.e., they are visitors to a large propor-tion of the flower species available, andothers as specialists, because they visitonly a narrow, usually closely related,range of plant species.

A Conservation PartnershipIn the summer of 1997, the Xerces

Society (Portland, Oregon), with thehelp of the USDA Bee Biology andSystematics Lab (Logan, Utah), initi-ated a project to explore methods toenrich out-of-play areas of golf courseswith native plants for pollinator insects.The project was funded by a grant fromthe Wildlife Links Program of theUSGA and the National Fish and Wild-life Foundation. Project staff workedwith the superintendents at three golfcourses in the Columbia Basin of east-ern Oregon and Washington. The threecourses were Wildhorse in Mission,Oregon; Veterans Memorial in WallaWalla, Washington; and Horn Rapidsin Richland, Washington. For eachgolf course, a reference site was alsoestablished in a nearby area of naturalvegetation so that pollinator popula-tions could be compared.

The project had four main compo-nents. These were to:

1. Survey and compare pollinatinginsects among golf courses, and be-tween golf courses and their respective"natural" areas.

2. Enrich out-of-play and rough areasof golf courses with flowering plantsnative to the locality.

3. Create pollinator nesting sites.4. Educate people about the impor-

tance of pollinators and their manage-ment.

Surveys trapped over 10,000 indi-vidual bees and showed that 78 beespecies, representing 25 genera, usedthe courses, perhaps mostly as flyways.This is an important finding becauseit demonstrates that large numbers ofpollinators are associated with some

golf courses, and that golf courses canserve as refuges if we can supply thenecessary resources. At the same time,it is equally important to recognizethat, though abundant, the existing golfcourse pollinator fauna is impoverishedin that it is dominated by only threegenera of sweat bees (Agapostemon,Halictus, and Dialictus). In 1997,thesethree genera accounted for 92 percentof specimens captured.

This pattern of species abundancecauses concern. The three dominantgenera are generalist sweat bees that arefrequently associated with disturbedand degraded plant communities com-posed of weedy species. Sweat bees are

able to visit and exploit the flowers ofa wide variety of plants. However, be-cause of their very diverse tastes inflowers and their habit of movingalmost randomly among several plantspecies on a single foraging trip, theyare usually regarded as inferior polli-nators when compared to other, morespecialized species. In contrast to thesegeneralists, specialist species restrictedto foraging on a few species of flowersare more vulnerable to changes innumbers of their preferred species ofnectar and pollen plants. Unfortu-nately, specialist pollinator populationsappear to be quite low or non-existenton golf courses in this part of theNorthwest.

Enhancing Foraging AreasThere are many good sources of

information on planning, creating, and

managing habitat areas for vertebrates,for some plant communities, and forwetlands, including the LandscapeRestoration Handbook produced bythe USGA. Recommendations forpollinator conservation management,however, are not readily available. Inthis section we describe methods forattracting a variety of native bees togolf courses, and for supplying themwith the pollen and nectar they needto survive and reproduce once they getthere.

Introducing or restoring local speciesof native flowering plants is the firststep to converting a portion of your golfcourse to a pollinator refuge. There are

several reasons for this. As alreadynoted, native species are adapted to thearea's climate, and once established,should require minimum attention. Incontrast, horticultural varieties andhybrids of many plants are not neces-sarily well adapted to local climes. Inaddition, they have been artificiallybred to produce showy blooms at theexpense of pollen and nectar produc-tion. Unlike such ornamentals, nativeplants have supplied native bees withpollen and nectar for ages and are welladapted to do so.

Plants should be chosen with diver-sity of both shape and color and ofblooming periods in mind. Diversityis important because, as noted earlier,many bee species either prefer, or areobligately dependent on, particularkinds of flowers for food. In general,the more kinds of flowers planted on

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Table 1Native Plants for Nectar and Pollen

These plants were chosen for the sites in the semi-arid Columbia Basin wherethe Wildlife Links project worked. They are listed as guidance. Talk to nativeplant nurseries in yoU! local area to identify equivalent species for your region.

the course, the more kinds of bees thatwill be supported. Color and scent aresignificant to attract bees; they areparticularly attracted to blues, violets,yellows, and whites. Equally importantis selecting species in a range of flowersizes and shapes, as there is a roughassociation between the depth of theflower tube and the length of themouthparts of the bees that use them.Thus, the more different depths repre-sented, the more species of beesattracted. Variety of flower shape andsymmetry (radial vs. bilateral) will alsohelp to favor a variety of bees.

Another consideration when choos-ing plants is the blooming time andduration. The flowering time of manyplants is restricted, sensitive to the

amount of daylight, and thus predict-able. It is easy to select a range ofspecies that will, together, fill in thegrowing season with a diversity offlowers through spring, summer, andfall. Such a planting strategy will sup-port a diversity of bee species, cateringto species that fly only in spring, sum-mer, or fall and those that are active forlonger. A variety of flowers throughthe year will make the habitat moreattractive to golfers as well.

In an article of this length it is notpossible to list specific species of plantsfor every region. Table 1 lists plantgenera that are good nectar or pollensources for the semi-arid ColumbiaBasin. They are listed here only asexamples because all planting decisions

FamilySalicaceaePolygonaceaeBerberidaceaeCrassulaceaeGrossulariaceaeRosaceae

Legumino~aeGeraniaceaeLinaceaeMalvaceaeCactaceaeOnagraceae

UmbelliferaePrimulaceaePolemoniaceaeHydrophyllaceaeLabiatae

Scrophulariaceae

CaprifoliaceaeCompositae

Liliaceae

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GenusSalixEriogonumBerberisSedumRibesGeumRosaLupinusGeraniumLinumSphaeralceaOpuntiaClarkiaOenotheraLomatiumDodecathonGiliaPhaceliaAgastacheScutellariaPenstemonVerbascumSymphoricarposAchilleaAsterChrysothamnusGaillardiaHelianthusSenecioSolidagoAliumBrodiaea

English namewillowbuckwheatOregon grapestonecropcurrent, gooseberryavenswild roselupinegeraniumflaxglobe-mallowcholla, prickly pearclarkiaevening primroselomatiumshooting stargiliaphaceliagiant hyssopskullcappenstemonmulleinsnowberryyarrowasterrabbit brushblanket flowersunflowergroundselgoldenrodwild onionbrodiaea

must be made with the local flora inmind. Talk to native plant nurseries,your local native plant society chapter,other wildlife organizations, or con-sultants in your local area to refine thislist with suggestions for equivalentlocal species of these or other plants,information on flowering times, andadvice on what is best adapted to localconditions. The Lady Bird JohnsonWildflower Center in Austin, Texas,offers lists of species suitable for manylocal areas.

For most situations pot-grown trans-plants are preferable to seed for estab-lishing the plants. Transplants are morelikely to survive when introduced toexisting grassy areas. Ideally, the plantsyou use should be from a local supplyof seed or cuttings. Local plants arelikely to be better adapted to growingconditions and climate and should beeasier to establish and grow. They arealso more likely to be attractive to localnative bees.

There are several things to considerthen locating habitat. Bees are unusualamong insects because of their highlevel of parental behavior. Their need tosupply food for their offspring makesthem density-sensitive foragers. Thus,while any flowering habitat is good,bigger patches can hold more plantsand will be more attractive to bees. Tryto avoid long, narrow patches, as thecenters of these will be disturbed moreby activity on the edges (like mowingor maintenance work) than larger,blocky areas. Where possible, link newareas or add onto existing habitat asthis will generate greater benefit for thesame amount of effort.

Bee Nesting SitesThe second major requirement of

native bees that pollinator conserva-tionists must supply is suitable nestinghabitat. As with flowering plants, themore kinds of nesting places that aremade available, the more types of beesone can expect to attract. Many, thoughnot all, easily creatable types of nestingsites will be suitable for your course.For example, unsheltered adobe blocksmay not last long in a rainy climate, andsand pits and piles may be superfluouson sandy sites.

Outlined below are eight ways tomake nesting sites, four each forground-nesting and snag-nesting bees.In all cases, location of the nesting sitesis important. Wet soil is usually bad forground-nesting bees and should beavoided. Choose sunny, dry, well-drained areas for the bare-ground and

sand-pit techniques. The techniques tocreate wood substrate nests can be morewidely used as they are less affected byground conditions. Try to place thesenests so that they are sheltered from theworst of the weather yet receive directsunshine early in the day. Facing theentrance of such nests east or southeastis best because bees like warmconditions, especially in the morning sothey can become active earlier.

• Bare ground. Simply clear thevegetation from a small level or gentlysloping area (about 6' by 6') andcompact the soil. A few rocks placed inthe cleared area will improve it byadding basking places and help towarm the soil. Bare areas on precipi-tous, south-facing slopes or banks willdraw other species.

• Adobe blocks. Use adobe blocks toconstruct a wall about 4' -5' high and5'-6' long. Use wood and/or metalbacking and supports to prevent top-pling. Drill holes (%2" to %" in diameter)into the blocks at least 4" deep.

• Sand pits. Dig a pit about 12'square and 4' deep, and fill it with fine-grained, pale-colored sand.

• Sand piles. Create a sand pile of asimilar size and materials as the sandpit.

• Logs and snags. Get some logs orold stumps and place them in the

Bee nesting boxescan be made fromblocks of water-resistant lumber,drilled withvarious sizedholes. Theseboxes provide asuitable nestinghabitat for solitarynesting bees(VeteransMemorialGolf Course,Walla Walla,Washington).

habitat patches. Plant a few upright likedead trees to ensure some deadwoodhabitat stays dry. Drill holes as in theadobe blocks.

• Elderberry bundles. Cut elderberrystems into lengths of 8" to 12". Drill outthe central pith to form a hole %2" to %"in diameter to a depth of 6" (do not drillcompletely through the stem), and thentie the stems in bundles of 15 to 20. Fixthe bundle to a stake or tree with thestems horizontal to the ground. (Otherstems with soft pith can be substituted,such as blackberry, raspberry, orsumac.)

•Elderberry stakes. Cut stakes fromelderberry stems about 24" to 30" long.Drill out the pith from one end as youdid the stems for the bundles, and thenabout 12" from the end, drill a "sidehole" of similar diameter through thebark just into the pith. Drive themabout 6" into the ground.

• Nesting blocks. Bee nesting blockscan be made from blocks of water-resistant lumber at least 4" by 4" and8" long. (Redwood or cedar are goodchoices, but any treated wood, prefer-ably aged, will do.) In one side of theblock, drill lots of holes %2" to %" indiameter and almost all the waythrough the block. When drilling, makethe interior of the holes as smooth aspossible. Bees are not partial to rough-

ened holes and may avoid them.Ideally, the top of the block shouldslope slightly towards the entrance andbe capped with a plywood roof (like abird nesting house). The roof shouldextend beyond the front of the block toafford the nesting holes some protec-tion from precipitation. This block canbe fixed to a stake or tree in a sunny,preferably eastward-facing spot.

Helping the Forgotten PollinatorsGolf courses have a huge potential

to contribute to the well-being andeducation of the public, and to greatlybenefit local wildlife by providing saferefuge as the landscapes around themcome under increasing pressure. Con-servation of native bees and plants is avaluable way in which golf courses cancontribute to a healthier environmentand is a comparatively simple task tointegrate into the management of a golfcourse. The simple actions that can betaken to conserve native bees targetstwo key aspects of their habitat: forag-ing areas and nesting sites. Habitatdiversification inevitably benefits otherwildlife as well- a more diverse envi-ronment results in a more diverse rangeof inhabitants - and, since the habitatwill support populations of helpfulpredators, can assist in pest manage-ment.

Every superintendent who can findspace on his or her course has thepotential to improve both the polli-nator populations in the local area aswell as the image of the course itself,both aesthetically and to the localcommunity. Golf courses can be goodneighbors to the flower and vegetablegardeners of their immediate areas, tothe school systems who will use themfor education, to the golfers who canappreciate the native vegetation, and,of course, to the creatures who will finda home there. Golf courses can make adifference across the nation, forming anetwork of enhanced pollinator habitatto support the vital work of native beesin the health of both farmland andwildlands.

MATIHEW SHEPHERD, M.S., works forthe Xerces Society in Portland, Oregon,where he is responsible for both thepollinator conservation programs and thesociety's publications.

VINCE TEPEDINO, Ph.D., is a researchentomologist with the USDA -ARS BeeBiology and Systematics Laboratory atUtah State University in Logan, Utah.

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