Old Trail School Helps Save the Bees

Middle School students enrolled in Old Trail School’s Farmhands elective class have created a public service announcement (PSA) video about the importance of bees to our environment.

The “Save the Bees – Save the World” PSA was filmed, edited and posted on YouTube by the students as part of their research into the decline of bee colonies, said Julie Miller, communication director of Old Trail School.

Click here to see the video.

The video was also uploaded to The Ohio State University’s Pollinatarium website as a way to help educate Ohioans about the plight of native bees and honey bees.

The OSU Department of Entomology is in the process of creating a fact sheet outlining the importance of bee pollination to the state. The University asked for the students’ help to quantify the value of the pollination services that the bees provide for a farm close to the School. 

Old Trail School has a partnership with Brunty Farms in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and students went there to conduct research. Some of the topics the students investigated were: types of crops, amount of crops, number of bee hives, etc.

Their research included these facts:

• The USDA estimates that there are approximately 2.68 million honey producing colonies in the United States. This estimate is based on beekeepers who managed five or more colonies in 2010.
• There are 32,742 bee colonies in Ohio.
• Bees are helpful – they keep the world alive – they pollinate our plants and trees.

Students also came up with ways that we can all help bees survive:

• Cut back on mulch so that ground nesting bees can dig nests.
•  Limit pesticide use because they kill native bees
•  Don’t mow your lawn so often. Mowing kills bees and it cuts flowers that feed bees.  
• Minimize your use of plastic weed barriers because bees can’t get to the soil.
• Install some artificial nest for mason and leafcutter bees.
•  Leave some leaf litter in your yard.
• Leave some sunny areas of your yard free of vegetation.
• Provide a source of mud for mason bees.
• Leave some weeds for the bees, and limit your herbicide use.
• Plant a variety of flowers that bloom from early spring to late fall.