UNH Kicks Off National Pollinator Week with Appreciation Day June 19

Monday, May 22, 2017

bee hotel

Visitors to Pollinator Appreciation Day can view the UNH Bee Hotel at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm, which is part of a research project assessing for the first time the diversity of New Hampshire’s bee population. Credit: Sandra Rehan/NHAES

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire will kick off National Pollinator Week with its Pollinator Appreciation Day Monday, June 19, 2017. The event includes an open house and twilight meeting/research field day at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm, home to the UNH Bee Hotel, extensive wildflower plantings, and a research site for the first assessment of the Granite State’s native bee species.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior have designated June 19-25, 2017, as National Pollinator Week, a celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles. The UNH events are sponsored by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, and are free and open to the public. No preregistration is required.

At the open house, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., attendees will learn about bee diversity and sustainability, bee gardens, wildflower meadows for pollinators, and protecting pollinators from pesticides. This part of the event is ideal for gardeners, families, and youth.

Following the open house, scientists will discuss their ongoing research at Woodman Farm for growers, from 5-7 p.m. Researchers will discuss overwintering onions, domesticating cold-hardy kiwiberries as a new fruit crop for New Hampshire, best practices for cultivating day neutral strawberry, best varieties and cultivation practices for table grapes, growing different varieties of peppers, controlling cabbage aphid on Brussel sprouts, and using marker-assisted breeding to improve strawberries.

Bees are important pollinators of food crops and natural ecosystems. The value of pollination to agriculture is estimated at more than $200 billion a year worldwide. The abundance of and diversity of pollinators are declining in many agricultural landscapes across the United States.  

The Woodman Horticultural Research Farm is located at the northwest edge of the UNH campus at 70 Spinney Lane in Durham. For directions, visit http://colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/woodman.

The NH Agricultural Experiment Station is committed to accommodating those with special needs. If you need special services, please call the NHAES Communications Office in advance so that we can accommodate you. The phone number is 603-862-1452. For TTY calls only, 1-800-RELAY-NH.

Founded in 1887, the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture is UNH’s original research center and an elemental component of New Hampshire's land-grant university heritage and mission. 

The University of New Hampshire is a flagship research university that inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. UNH’s research portfolio includes partnerships with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, receiving more than $100 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space. 

Editor's Notes: 

PHOTO FOR DOWNLOAD:
https://colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/sites/colsa.unh.edu.nhaes/files/media/images/beehotel.jpg
Visitors to Pollinator Appreciation Day can view the UNH Bee Hotel at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm, which is part of a research project assessing for the first time the diversity of New Hampshire’s bee population. Credit: Sandra Rehan/NHAES