Black Hills Bee Project

Volunteers with the Black Hills Bee Project monitor and collect bees, record flower visitations, and provide insights on the activities of bees in the Black Hills ecoregion. The project depends upon a volunteer effort to provide essential data, specimens, records, and observations of these native bees. Volunteers can also contribute photographs of bees from their gardens or elsewhere in the Black Hills. The project will post these photos and identify volunteers as the photographer. There are four primary benefits of participating: 1. Volunteer bee and information contributions will be fully recognized on the project Web page and in any scientific publications. 2. Specimens with names of their collector will be permanently retained in the Severin‐McDaniel insect Research Collection at South Dakota State University, with duplicate specimens going to the US Department of Agriculture Bee Lab. 3. Bees and information provided will contribute to an understanding of the bee diversity of the Black Hills region. 4. The survey of the home and garden bees will allow a determination of which native species can survive in developed areas and be important garden pollinators.