Carson City Chamber Leadership Institute 2019 to focus on bee habitat
Members of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce 2019 Leadership Institute are buzzing about their class project to construct a bee hotel in honor of the Nevada state capital being named as a Bee City USA.
"Our class decided our project would reflect our appreciation of Carson City's important commitment to the health of bee populations and, therefore, the health of our community," the Leadership Institute Class of 2019 said. "We intend to design, construct and erect a large bee hotel in one of Carson City's open spaces, and host an educational event in conjunction with the unveiling of the finished hotel."
In October 2018, Carson City was named the 76th Bee City USA by the Xerces Society, the only city with this designation in Nevada.
"This class has chosen the unlikely challenge of establishing a bee habitat — certainly an out-of-the-box project — and are now in the early stages of learning about bees, their habits, and how to maintain them," said Carson City Chamber Executive Director Ronni Hannaman. "With the dwindling of bee colonies, this is an important environmental project, for 90 percent of the world’s flowering plants depend on pollination."
Because of this special designation, Hannaman said the 2019 class is even more committed to the project.
Class Project Chair Angela Holt wrote, “Our class was looking for an 'out-of-the-box' project that would promote education while also benefiting the community.
"We also were looking for a project that could be sustainable," Holt added. "With support from local bee groups and the Greenhouse Project, the bee habitat should thrive for years to come."
There are approximately 4,000 species of bees in North America and about a 1,000 native species in Nevada, Hannaman said.
Of those 1,000 species, the class chose the gentle leaf cutter bee (genus Megachile) to inhabit the projected bee hotel since these bees are important pollinators — more so than the honeybee — and are not aggressive, she said.
If provoked, their sting is mild. These solitary bees prefer to build their nests in small holes, Hannaman said.
She said the class wishes to construct a bee hotel near the Greenhouse Project's Foothill Garden, which located behind the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center.
For more information, visit www.carsoncitychamber.com.
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