2023 Annual Meeting

Please join us for the Alford Land Trust’s annual meeting on Saturday, September 9. Joan Milam, an adjunct research associate in the UMass Department of Environmental Studies, will be giving a presentation on bees in Alford with a focus on the rare Parnassia Miner bee. She explains:

Bees are among the most conspicuous, effective, and important animal pollinators in natural, agricultural, and garden settings. Animal pollinators are responsible for pollinating nearly 80% of all flowering plants, including the many fruits and vegetables that we depend on for a healthy diet. Therefore, reports of global and regional declines of bees and other pollinators in recent years have sparked great concern and prompted research to learn more about their distribution and life histories and how to support native pollinators through actions including land conservation, supporting pollinators in urban environments, evaluating pesticide application, and surveys of bees to establish baseline documentation.

I will talk about the rare Parnassia Miner bee (Andrena parnassiae), a specialist bee that collects pollen only from Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia glauca) flowers that bloom in late August and September and are found only in alkaline wetlands or fens. 

The meeting will be held at 10 am on Saturday, September 9 at the Alford Town Hall.