W hat better way to spend the day after Earth Day than learning about and loving on bees in the Santa Fe Railyard Park? Linda Schafer, director of the Railyard Stewards, says she’s fallen in love with native bees lately, and she wants you to, too. Join the stewards at 10 am Saturday on the Railyard Performance Green.
What should people expect if they show up?
We've installed the first large-scale native bee house in the Railyard Park. It's the first one in the city, and it could be the first one in the state. The workshop is going to be led by Olivia Carril, and she is going to talk about native bees and their habitat loss and how community members can help increase habitat, like the Railyard Stewards have through the bee house, and we are going to install nesting materials in the bee house. … It's large scale, so it's 6 feet by 5 feet by 2 feet. The idea is to see how many different species will approach it and nest in it. So it is kind of science station, too.
Why did you decide to take up the cause of the bees?
We had done a native pollinator workshop last year and the year before that, and after reading about bees, most people know about honeybee colony collapse, and honeybee decline is more part of public awareness. They have done a boatload of academic research on it, and less attention has been paid and resources directed to the endangerment of native bees. And pollinators are absolutely critical to our ecological health.
Do you worry about bee stings?
Native bees are solitary bees, and we are going to have a big interpretive sign on the bee box to talk about native bees and have big pictures of what you can see in the park. They don't make honey. They don't live in hives. They live in hollow sticks or twigs or plant material, which is why for the nesting material, kids at Sweeney and at Santa Fe Girls School made paper tubes, and we are going to put them into empty coffee and oatmeal containers. They don't have a queen to protect and defend. If you step on one or you pick it up and squeeze it, it might sting, but they are not as aggressive as honeybees.
