Bee Trapping

Over the summer and into the fall, the WRRB Conservation Biologist, Aimee Guile, Wildlife Management Biologist, Randi Jennings, and Communications Officer, Shalyn Norrish, assisted Environment and Natural Resources with their Bee Trapping program. The purpose of the program is to learn more about wild bee species in the NWT in order to get a better understanding of their health, population numbers, and other important information related to their survival. For one week every month, from May to September, volunteers took bee traps out to designated sites in and around Yellowknife. There were three areas where the traps were placed: In-town, including Rat Lake or Tin Can Hill, Frame Lake, and Parker Park; Edge-of-town, with traps at the Ski club, Folk on the Rocks site, and the sandpits; and Out-of-town, including Prelude East, Pontoon Lake, and Prelude Main. Each trap was filled with glycol, and left for one week, at which time they were retrieved. The insects collected, whether they are bees or not, are sent to a lab to be identified and tested. The data will be compiled and used to inform initiatives to support local wild bee populations and to understand what factors may be contributing to their decline. For more information, you can read the attached fact sheet (see below). For more information on bees in the NWT, you can read up on them, download colouring books, and field guides here.