Are you an artist? Do you love pollinators and do you draw or paint them? Maybe you will be a pollinator Artist at the 3rd annual Cascade Girl Art at the Airport event.
I have the BEST time drawing and painting my favorite fuzzy friends and so does Karin Wares, a Medford artist who won the 2018 Wildlife Artist Contest, a competition sponsored by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. This image then becomes the face of Habitat Conservation and fittingly so: "Known only from southern Oregon and northern California between the Coast and Sierra-Cascade Ranges, Franklin’s bumble bee has the most restricted range of any bumble bee in the world. Its entire distribution can be covered by an oval of about 190 miles north to south and 70 miles east to west. Populations of Franklin’s bumble bee have declined precipitously since 1998; this bee is in imminent danger of extinction. Franklin’s bumble bee was readily found throughout its range throughout the 1990s, but subsequent yearly surveys by Dr. Robbin Thorp have suggested this bee is nearly extinct. No Franklin’s bumble bees were observed during surveys in 2004, 2005, 2007, or 2008, and only a single worker was found in 2006. Threats to this species include: 1) Exotic diseases introduced via trafficking in commercial bumble bee queens and colonies for greenhouse pollination of tomatoes; 2) Habitat loss due to destruction, degradation, conversion; and 3) Pesticides and pollution. According to the Xerces SocietyOriginal profile prepared by Dr. Robbin Thorp, University of California- Davis. This profile has been updated by Sarah Foltz, Scott Black, Sarina Jepsen, and Elaine Evans, The Xerces Society." (accessed at: https://xerces.org/franklins-bumble-bee/).
Come and see Karin's Work in our Pollinator Art at the Airport event from May 1 to June 3.
In contrast to this BumbleBee, Karin actually may be found at the Cascade Girl Oregon Honey Festival on May 18 and the Feminine Legacy Beekeeping Conference on May 19!
Photo: ODFW
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