Pollinator Power

Most flowering plants need to have contact with pollen from other flowers in order to produce fruits and seeds. Since plants are rooted in the ground, they need bees (and sometimes birds, bats, or wind) to bring the pollen to them. The lives of 75% of all flowering plants depend of help from bees and other pollinators – and that doesn’t just mean flowers like roses or daisies. If you like strawberries, apples, almonds, peaches, watermelons or tomatoes (or even ketchup and salsa), you can thank bees for helping produce them. In fact, 33% of the food in the world comes from plants that rely on creatures to pollinate them. And if you like milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt you can thank bees for those too, because cows that produce milk eat plants that are pollinated by bees.

Honeybees a Welcomed Non-Native
Honeybees (like the one on the right) are important pollinators, but are not native to America. People have used honey and beeswax for thousands of years and brought honeybees to this country from Europe.

ID a Bumblebee
The Cache Valley and its neighboring mountains are home to 11 species of native bumble bees. Among them are the region's largest bees, particularly the robust queens seen flying and foraging in the spring when they are establishing and provisioning a nest. Bumble bees are important pollinators of our native flora, especially in the mountains, as well as some of our garden plants.