By Saundra McBrearty, Outreach and Volunteer Specialist
It is estimated that Ohio is host to more than 400 different species of bees. However, their distributions and populations have not been studied on a statewide scale, until now. During the last two years Preservation Parks’ Volunteer, Teresa Staats, and dozens of other citizen scientists across Ohio took part in the first statewide Ohio Bee Survey conducted by The Ohio State University.
Teresa Staats, who trained as an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist (OCVN) in 2016, asked permission to collect bees that visited bee bowls she placed and retrieved each week from May through September. She conducted the bee survey at McCammon Creek Park, a future park site not currently open to the public. The park district was excited to be part of this state-wide survey and to find out more about the specific bees inhabiting the park site. To learn more click here to enjoy the Ohio Bee Survey- McCammon Creek Park results. We sincerely thank Teresa for collecting all this information for Preservation Parks, our state, our bees, and beyond.
