1. GLUING BEES TO PINS LIKE A PRO

Watch the following short video on how to glue bees to pins with Lincoln Best. For beginners, remember you only glue small bees (i.e., bees that if you pinned the pin would obscure most of the thorax). This is an easy method and it doesn’t involve cutting specialized points.

2. NEW OREGON BEE ATLAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL

We heard from volunteers that a lot of the key material you need for learning is hard to find after they are posted on the Roundup. To help prevent this we have launched a Oregon Bee Atlas Youtube Channel with all our educational videos. Our goal - by the end of the summer - is to have videos of all the main techniques you need to know to do your work with the Atlas. Subscribe and stay tuned.

3. NEW LABELS

After much deliberation we have invested in new technology to create our labels. These labels are different from the labels you trained with, so we will be providing a short video next week to explain: 1) the procedure before we print your labels (this year we are including a step to check over the information on your labels before we print them), 2) how you will get your labels, 3) how to match your labels up with your pinned specimens and 4) how to enter your species determinations if you choose to identify your labels.

4. BEE SCHOOL 2019

We will be offering Bee School again this summer. Registration will begin next week, but we expect it will fill up fast.

What is Bee School?

This five-day course should not be confused with the one-day introductory course many of you took this winter.

Bee School is an advanced course and we are hoping to enroll at least one person from each regional Oregon Bee Atlas sampling team. It is possible for multiple people from the same team to be enrolled, however we will prioritize capturing a broad representation of teams from across Oregon. We have added a second date to help accommodate others in the region who are looking for this training.

This course is not required for you to participate in the Atlas. In fact, you do not have to even identify your bees if you don’t feel compelled. Our goal is to train people in basic taxonomy who can then be leaders in their region by teaching others. Prior experience is not needed - we are looking for people committed for the long term who have a passion for teaching others and sharing the knowledge they have gained from the course.