Montana to identify and document bee populations in statewide Bee Atlas

Montana bug conservationists and volunteers are compiling an atlas of Montana bees to better understand where bees are in the state. And where they are not.

Montana kicked off its bee documentation efforts this year, with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation leading the effort.

Livingston-based Xerces entomologist Michelle Toshack says Montana has one of the most diverse bee populations with 29 species.

“The reason for that is that we have these western bumble species meeting these eastern bumble bee species. Montana is just this convergence zone,” said Toshak.

According to Xerces, species of concern include the western bumble bee and the American bumble bee.

Amanda Hendrix with the U.S. Forest Service in Montana says, right now, they don’t know what species are in Montana or where, and the agency is helping fund the project through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“In general, pollinators and bees play a really important role in ecosystem health and its sustainability,” said Hendrix.

The first field season wrapped up for the summer, and Michelle Toshack with Xerces says she’ll be identifying more than 2,000 bees, with findings to be released late October or early November.

September 17 edit: A previous version of this article misspelled Michelle Toshack’s name. It has been corrected.