Friday, March 4, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
New research from OSU’s native Citing drought, feds to
bee project could benefit farmers deliver zero water to
Central Valley farmers
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. — New
research on native bees could help
Oregon farmers, support pollina-
tors and boost public knowledge
about wild bees.
Oregon
State
Univer-
sity researchers this February
released the results of a 2019
statewide native bee survey, a
project within the volunteer-run
Oregon Bee Atlas, an initiative
founded in 2018 that tracks wild
bee species and their plant hosts
across the state.
Andony Melathopoulos, OSU
Extension’s pollinator health spe-
cialist and assistant professor,
said this “powerful biodiversity
dataset” not only tracks wild bee
species but analyzes their inter-
actions with flowering plants —
documenting which flowers cer-
tain bees prefer, for example.
Melathopoulos said this kind
of information could help farm-
ers more strategically support
local bee populations, which is
not only good for bees but may
give growers the ability to boost
crop yields and market their prod-
ucts as high-biodiversity.
Lincoln “Linc” Best, lead
taxonomist for the Oregon Bee
Atlas, agreed.
“I think this will really
empower the farm sector, the for-
estry sector,” said Best.
The data was collected by vol-
unteers via the Oregon Bee Atlas.
Some of the volunteers are now
“Master Melittologists” — a mel-
ittologist studies bees — in a pro-
gram modeled after OSU’s Mas-
ter Gardener program.
In the program, OSU research-
ers train volunteers to locate,
identify and preserve bees from
the more than 620 species of
native bees in Oregon.
For this dataset, in 2019, vol-
unteers submitted 25,022 bee
specimens from all Oregon coun-
ties. This represented 224 unique
bee species and 45 bee genera.
Volunteers also collected samples
from 352 unique flowering gen-
era, resulting in the largest con-
temporary state-level database
tracking interactions between
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
Lynn Ketchum/OSU
Andony Melathopoulos
Oregon State University
The Oregon lava hole bee
(Atoposmia oregona) had not
been seen in Oregon since 1969.
Until recently, it had only been
seen on four occasions in Ore-
gon. It was rediscovered by Mas-
ter Melittologist Ellen Watrous
on the same lava fields in McK-
enzie Pass where it was first dis-
covered in 1927.
bees and plant hosts.
The volunteers also made two
big discoveries.
Master Melittologist Judi
Maxwell of Grants Pass found a
rare Small Stonecrop Mason Bee
for the first time in Oregon.
Another rare bee called the
Lava Hole Bee was found by Mas-
ter Melittologist Ellen Watrous of
Corvallis — the first documented
in Oregon since 1969.
Many of the 25,022 bee spec-
imens were found on or near
farms, which Melathopoulos
said is evidence that Oregon’s
diverse crop mix supports bee
populations.
“Agriculture is often impli-
cated with bee declines,” he
said. “That’s sometimes true, but
we’re not the Midwest. Here in
Oregon, farmers are doing a good
job overall, and specialty crops
are actually contributing to many
diverse types of bees.”
Using the new research, farm-
ers can further step up their
efforts to support bees.
Farmers will soon be able to
track which wild bee species
have been found in their area and
the types of plants those bees
prefer. From there, Melathopou-
los said, growers can see which
bee-friendly plants or trees they
already have and what they can
add to “complete the suite.”
Melathopoulos and Best said
they are working with several
Oregon farms, including Willa-
mette Valley Vineyards, in trials
this year to explore which plants
can support wild bees.
Best and his team are currently
developing an interactive online
Oregon Bee Atlas with a map
and simple user interface so that
farmers can search for particular
bee species or plants.
“We’re working hard to pub-
lish that in the next few months,”
said Best.
SACRAMENTO — With
California entering its third
year of severe drought, the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
announced a zero-water allo-
cation for irrigation districts
via the Central Valley Project,
a 400-mile-long web of dams,
canals and other water facilities.
The decision will impact
farmers in 29 counties across
the state’s major agricultural
region, likely prompting grow-
ers to plant different crops, fal-
low acres or tear out vineyards
and orchards.
“It’s very concerning. Farm-
ers are disappointed, frustrated,
angry,” said Tricia Stever Blat-
tler, executive director of the
Tulare County Farm Bureau.
This year’s outlook is even
more grim than the last.
In 2021, farmers started with
a 5% allocation from the federal
government and ended at 0% as
the drought intensified.
In a report prepared for the
state Department of Food and
Agriculture, the University of
California-Merced found that
last year’s drought was respon-
sible for an estimated loss of
8,745 farm-related jobs, $1.2 bil-
lion in direct costs and 395,100
acres of cropland left dry and
unplanted — an area larger than
Los Angeles.
According to Reclamation, this
year’s allocation was based on cur-
rent reservoir storage, rainfall and
snowpack levels. The agency can
change the allocation later this
year if conditions change.
“Basically, our region has
been bone-dry since the begin-
ning of the year. We got off to a
great start with rain in October
and snow storms in December,
and then it just flattened,” said
Ernest Conant, Reclamation’s
regional director.
Farmers with a 0% surface
water allocation are grasping for
alternatives. But other options
will be limited due in part to local
agencies taking action under
SGMA, the Sustainable Ground-
water Management Act.
Passed in 2014, SGMA regu-
lates how California groundwater
is managed.
During 2021’s drought, many
farmers pumped more groundwa-
ter. But this year, some groundwa-
ter sustainability agencies — local
agencies tasked with implement-
ing SGMA — are planning to cap
the amount of groundwater farm-
ers can pump.
“There are not many options
left,” said Blattler in Tulare. “Pur-
chasing water is one of the only
options available.”
Buying water on the spot mar-
ket can be difficult, partly because
prices are volatile. According to
WestWater Research, a market
research firm, in March 2020,
water was trading hands for about
$200 per acre-foot. In June 2021,
it hit $1,000 per acre-foot.
Farmers will face difficult
decisions, said Blattler, including
“when to pull the plug” on a crop.
In contrast to irrigation dis-
tricts, other contractors will have
larger allocations. Drinking and
industrial uses, for example, are
allocated 25% of their histori-
cal use, and California state law
requires some water to remain in
the system in regions with endan-
gered fish species.
Reclamation can’t circum-
vent the state; the federal agency
must comply with California law
to protect fish habitat, even if that
means delivering no water to
farmers.
Environmental
nonprofits,
including Save California Salmon
and The Nature Conservancy, say
mandated flows are crucial to
protect fish and to keep saltwater
from creeping into freshwater riv-
ers, making them unfit for human
use.
But many farmers say they are
unhappy with how the state man-
ages water.
Jamie Johansson, president
of the California Farm Bureau
Federation, said in a statement
that the zero-water allocation
“demonstrates the overdue need
for new water storage.”
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