IT’S ARGUABLE THAT some of the best art is created by Mother Nature, and a recent partnership between The Wildlife Society and the Feed a Bee program, operated by life-science group Bayer: Science for A Better Life, is creating masterpieces through a series of native wildflower planting events to benefit bees and other pollinators. Florida pollinators will benefit along with three other locations through the planting of 50 million wildflower seeds.
PLANTING FOR POLLINATORS
The month-and-a-half forage tour is aimed at creating forage for pollinators like bees. The program brings together The Wildlife Society, the Feed a Bee Program, and regional partners to plant an array of wildflowers that regional pollinators like bees can use as a food source.
In a Bayer Crop Science official statement, The Wildlife Society (TWS) CEO Ken Williams said, “The Feed a Bee program is tackling a really important need for pollinators by conducting plantings across the nation this fall. At TWS, dedicated chapter members in each region are working now to identify the optimum mix of wildflower seeds to plant in each location to ensure pollinators have access to a wide variety of diverse nutrition sources when bloom occurs in the spring.”
The first three events will be in Texas, Kansas, and Illinois, but the last event will be in Florida. Likely in December, the Feed a Bee website maintains, “Our final Feed a Bee planting of the year will be hosted in Florida with The Packers of Indian River. We will work with local beekeeping and agricultural groups to plant wildflower seeds optimized to provide forage for pollinators.”
CREDIT
column by MICHAEL MARTIN
BIO: Michael Martin of Martin Law Office in Lakeland specializes in agriculture and environmental legal representation. A native of Polk County, Mike attended college at Sewanee in Tennessee, before obtaining a doctorate in law from the University of Florida. He has tried numerous cases nationwide since that time. Mike also serves as the director of the FFA Foundation and is the author of the novel, The Crestfallen Rose. To learn more, visit martinpa.com.
