The OSU Master Melittologist Program

OSU Insect Monitoring

The OSU Master Melittologist Program on Pacific Region 1 National Wildlife Refuges is a community science project engaging trained (and background checked) citizen science volunteers through the Oregon Bee Atlas and the WSDA’s Washington Bee Atlas.

The OSU Master Melittogy program, through the Oregon Bee Atlas, has a Special Use Permit for sampling at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge for 5 years, last year being its first year.  I am the lead instructor for this location. I coordinate with DFWS staff at the Refuge for the collecting events of native bees, originating with Eric Anderson and continuing with Alex Chmielewski, and instruct new volunteers.

The basic scientific goals of the Atlas are to develop a baseline dataset for all native bee species in addition to incorporating Washington specific-plant pollinator relationships in support of the spectrum of potential pollinators across Washington state.

Only individuals associated with the WSDA Washington Bee Atlas and Oregon State Bee Atlas are authorized to sample native bees. Sampling may occur during the spring through the early fall period. Sampling occurs throughout the seasons to better understand the change in species of native bees present during the change of the seasons. Sampling consists primarily of using insect nets to manually capture the native bees. One of these events will be Saturday, June 7!

We are equipped to answer visitors’ questions and highlight the Refuge’s permission and support for this project.

-Anne Bulger, Friends of Ridgefield Board Member & OSU Master Melittology Lead Instructor for the RNWR