Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count creates buzz for bee “census”

By Jayson MacLean    Environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth Canada is encouraging Canadians to participate in the first annual Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count, an event aimed at raising awareness about drastic declines in bumble bee populations and helping scientists to determine where across the country bumble bees are most in need of protection.
   “Bees are absolutely essential for pollinating flowers and vegetables,” says CEO of Friends of the Earth Canada, Beatrice Olivastri, in conversation with the CBC. “For our food security we absolutely need bees.”
Running from June 1 until August 15, 2016, the Canadian bumble bee count asks Canadians to snap summertime pics of bumble bees in gardens, at cottages and campsites and upload them to bumblebeewatch.org/which is run by a partner group which has been organizing bee counts across North America. Once uploaded, researchers will check each photo for verification purposes and use the data to help identify conservation needs and to locate rare and/or endangered populations of bumble bees...http://www.cantechletter.com/2016/07/great-canadian-bumble-bee-count/