Transcript
Speaker 1
From the Oregon State University Extension Service, this is pollination, a podcast that tells the stories of researchers, land managers, and concerned citizens making bold strides to improve the health of pollinators. I'm your host doctor Adoni Malapropos, assistant professor in pollinator health in the Department of Horticulture. In this episode I've got two new people who've come to the Pacific No,rthwest to do pollinator health work. First up is Claire Cremin. She's the president's excellence chair and biodiversity at the University of British Columbia. Many of you probably know Doctor Cremin because she's one of the most prominent ecologists working with bees anywhere in the world. She was previously at Berkeley. But now she's moved up to British Columbia, Canada in our region, which is really exciting. Another amazing addition is core and peace. He is the Pacific Northwest pollinator conservation planner at the Zorse Society. He's been here since May, but he's been really busy getting an. Relatives on pollinator protection right across the region up in Washington and Idaho and here in Oregon. You're gonna hear in this episode an exciting initiative that he's involved with in the mid-Columbia region, a new pollinator conservation innovation strategy here in Oregon that's targeting. Dollars for land managers in Hood River and Wasco County. Anyways, without further ado, let's talk with Doctor Cremin and Corn. OK, I'm really excited to be here in Corvallis. Claire Crimmin, welcome to pollination.
Speaker 2
Thank you.
Speaker 1
We're very excited because you're now in the Pacific Northwest along with the rest of us. You have a new position at the University of British Columbia. Tell us a little bit about that position.
Speaker 2
Well, I just started this year as President's excellence chair in biodiversity, and I've come up from UC Berkeley, so I've just sort of made a little climate change shift going up to Vancouver. Here and I'm really excited about being there.
Speaker 1
And you've only been there a few months, like four months or so.
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1
So, it's very early on, I imagine you're starting to just, you know, get the lay of the land, let, let alone trying to think about what you're gonna be doing over the next few years. But tell us about some of your initial impressions of being in BC and some of the things that you might you can see yourself potentially working on. We won't hold you to it. We won't come back in a year and say Claire. You said on the show.
Speaker 2
Great. Yeah. Well, one exciting thing. Vancouver is so close to agricultural areas. So literally within 25 minutes of my home, unless there's a lot of traffic, I can get out to some farm sites, and in some of these farm sites, they've been working for some years in adding in some sustainable agricultural practices, including some habitat enhancements like hedgerows. Grassland set-asides and some of the farmers are beginning to experiment with, including some seed mixes for flowering. Forbes in those grasslands set aside. So, I've been talking with a group up there, the Delta Farmland Wildlife Trust about working with them and their farmers to test these grasslands, set-asides, and see how they are for pollinator habitat and what kind of pollination services can be provided to some of the pollinator-dependent crops, which include blueberry and cranberry. Raspberry strawberry is also up there, but the blueberries are really a dominant 1. So yeah, we are planning to do some work on the blueberry fields.
Speaker 1
I guess that's one of the differences from California the crops are different. They are you. You've done a lot of great work in things like watermelon. And vegetable crops as well.
Speaker 2
In. Yeah, we've just published some work from California on squash and we have also been working on strawberries. That's not published yet. We've worked with sunflowers, almonds, and watermelon. So, yeah, we've had quiet and tomatoes, even cherry tomatoes. So do quite a lot of different crops in California. There's. Definitely crossover. I mean, there's some blueberry production in California, but not much. But definitely there's a lot of strawberries in California. So yeah, there's some crossover, but these ericaceous crops, the blueberry cranberry kind of thing are. I definitely like the colder areas better.
Speaker 1
And for some of our listeners who aren't aware, I mean you have you do a lot of different work on multiple registers from like ecosystem services in a very general way to very kind of concrete thinking about what farmers can do on their land. You have done work very kind of similar to this with hedgerows and other kinds of plantings. Tell us a little bit about the work in California. That you've done.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So, the work in California we did for 10 years, we looked every year. At these hedgerows and how they're influencing the B communities and we found that that a network of hedgerows especially is really, really helpful for promoting pollinator diversity, pollinator abundance. We found enhancements of pollinators right on the hedges themselves, but also, found a greater regional diversity. If you have these Hydros, so more turnover from one hydro to the next.
Speaker 1
Ohh, so they're not just these local things they can have.
Speaker 2
And then we.
Speaker 1
These broader impacts, OK.
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's kind of bigger landscape effects and then in our most recent work, we found that having a hedgerow nearby is actually helpful as well. It can help have longer-term effects from season to season, more persistence of species. If you have nearby Hydros as well as a good flowering. So yeah, we're starting to tease apart these landscape effects of the Hydros as well as the sort. Of more immediate. Effects and then as far as their impact on? Adjacent crop pollination. It's a bit mixed. We found some results that suggest there could be a positive impact and then other studies were us. I don't see any difference. So, I think that a lot of that has. To do with context. And the size of the field. You know, I think you know, you can't go too far necessarily in thinking that a tiny hydro is going to provide all the habitat that's needed to give you enough bees to pollinate a huge, huge field. So yeah, kind of thinking about diversity within the field too is probably pretty important for the pollinators and the services.
Speaker 1
Well, this is really exciting. We're so, so thrilled to have you in the region and to start to tackle some of these problems, especially in British Columbia. Thank you so much for taking the time. I notice that you have a very busy schedule here in Corvallis today and you're off to your next meeting. Thanks for taking the time. To talk with us.
Speaker 2
OK. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1
I'm here at the Nursing Society headquarters here in Portland with core and peace. Welcome to pollination.
Speaker 3
Ohh well, thanks.
Speaker 1
OK. So, you're relatively new here, is tell us what your position is because it is very focused on the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 3
I am the Pacific Northwest conservation planner for the Searcy Society, and I also work with the NRCS, which is the Natural Resources Conservation Service. And so, my job is to work with. Landowners, farmers, and ranchers to help conserve pollinators and beneficial insects on their farms.
Speaker 1
This is so welcome. I know a lot of our listeners. We have heard of these kinds of initiatives taking place in California and the Midwest. But it seems like the Pacific Northwest has been an. The area that we've. So many people want something like this To happen, but we just until now have not had this focus. Tell us a little bit about the response you have had, and you started in May and December.
Speaker 3
Mm-hmm. Yes. I started in May. And there is so much energy out there to provide habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects on farms. And, you know, even in the short time period I have really seen. The incredible interest in conserving these important critters in our agricultural areas.
Speaker 1
One thing that we. But I'm really excited about this initiative in the mid-Columbia region. Tell us a little bit about that, that seems like a first for at least Oregon having an RCS program really focused on.
Speaker 3
Pollinators. Well, we have the state of Oregon in RCS, which has decided to focus efforts on the conservation of pollinators. And beneficial insects in agriculture in The Dalles and Hood River area and. That gives them gives us an opportunity to help cost-share programs to put in beneficial insect habitats, cover crops, and others and implement other methods of conserving pollinators and beneficial insects in those. Cropping systems like cherries, and blueberries. And apples and pears.
Speaker 1
Pairs OK, so if. You were a grower in those regions or some kind of a land manager. You could go into your NRCS office and there would be some programs that you could subscribe to put some of these conservation measures for pollinators, specifically on your land.
Speaker 3
Yes. Yes. It is a great program. And so, the majority of the program is under the. Equip program and that's. To help fund those growers and support them with proper information to make those projects successful so that they can establish native plants and other plants that provide beneficial habitats for these.
Speaker 1
Critters, I imagine in the last couple of months you have talked to a lot of land managers, a lot of different Land Management, a lot of different. Types of land they are managing it, which must be exciting because there are so many nooks and crannies and different things that people are doing, but it must also be kind of daunting thinking about how to help such, you know, a forester cranberry grower, cherry grower. They all have kind of different pest management problems. Different agronomic practices. What excites you about that and where do you see the kind of way forward with? Such a diverse area, such as Oregon and Washington, night out.
Speaker 3
Well, I've been working in agriculture for many years, but this job has really given me the opportunity to get out into ranch land and forests, and I'm really seeing that there's a huge opportunity. In these two areas, it also enhances habitat for pollinators.
Speaker 1
Yeah, it tells like, imagine there's so much on the eastern part of the state that's ranch land, the range land that. Also, I was thinking you know when it comes to, you know, particularly bees, a lot of our biodiversity is over there rather than this side of.
Speaker 3
The cascade, yes, definitely.
Speaker 1
And in forests that must be like. Half of the state.
Speaker 3
Yeah. In the Pacific Northwest, there are a lot of forests. So, there's a lot of opportunity for working with foresters to enhance their pollinator habitat, especially after logging and opening up. Areas for good pollinator habitat.
Speaker 1
Well, corn, thank you so much for taking time away for a rather busy day and we look forward to you charging ahead in all the initiatives that you're going to be involved with here in the region.
Speaker 3
Alright, well thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for listening. The show is produced by Quinn Sin and Neil, who's a student here at OSU. In the new media communications. The program and the show wouldn't even be possible without the support of the Oregon Legislature. The Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, and Westerns there. Show notes with links mentioned on each episode are available on the website which [email protected]. I also love hearing from you, and there are several ways to connect with me. The first one is you can visit the website and leave an episode-specific comment. You can suggest a future guest or topic or ask a question that could be featured in a future episode, but you can do the same things on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook by visiting the org and B project. Thanks so much for listening and see you next week.
The Pacific Northwest got not just one, but two great pollinator positions in 2019. Claire Kremen has moved her lab from Berkeley to the University of British Columbia and Corin Pease is the new regional Pollinator Conservation Planner at Xerces. In this show we hear about these new programs and what they have planned for 2020.
Claire Kremen is President’s Excellence Chair In Biodiversity with a joint appointment in IRES and Zoology at University of British Columbia. She is an ecologist and applied conservation biologist working on how to reconcile agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation. Current research questions in her lab include: How do different forms of agricultural land management influence long-term persistence of wildlife populations by promoting or curtailing dispersal movements and population connectivity? Specifically, can diversified, agroecological farming systems promote species dispersal and survival? How do different types of farming systems affect ecosystem services, yields, profitability, sustainability and livelihoods? How do we design sustainable landscapes that promote biodiversity while providing for people?
Corin Pease is the provides technical assistance to growers and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Planners on pollinator and natural enemy conservation on farms in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a master’s degree in integrated pest management and a bachelor’s degree in environmental biology from the University of California–Davis. Corin’s experience spans agriculture, entomology, and integrated pest management (IPM). As a researcher, Corin has studied insects associated with native hedgerows, conservation biological control, and pest management in tomatoes, grapes, almonds, and strawberries in California. Before coming to Xerces, Corin was a crop consultant in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, advising berry growers on pest management and crop nutrition.
