BC Nature and the Native Bee Society of BC Win Conservation Award

BC Nature and the Native Bee Society of BC (NBSBC) are excited to announce that they have been jointly awarded the BC Conservation and Biodiversity Award! This award is provided to “the most impactful initiatives brought forward by BC based charities, for specific work contributing to the improvement of the natural environment of BC and the preservation of its wilderness and biodiversity.”

Award funds will directly support the BC Bee Atlas, a citizen-science based program that documents the diversity, distribution and floral partners of BC’s more than 500 native bee species – critical pollinators that support ecosystems province-wide.

Launched in 2024 by the NBSBC, the BC Bee Atlas is powered by volunteers trained through the Oregon State University’s Master Melittologist Program. These volunteers collect bee specimens throughout BC, recording the plants they forage on (i.e., their essential floral partners) using the iNaturalist platform. Each bee is pinned and labeled to museum-quality standards, before being submitted for expert identification. As identifications occur, a detailed picture emerges – not just of where each bee species is found, but also of their vital plant associations.

A bee plant interaction network from one BC Bee Atlas survey site. Data NBSBC / OSU 2025

Macropis nuda - dark-footed yellow loosestrife bee. A pollen specialist on the oil producing Lysimachia ciliata (yellow loosestrife), this bee provides its offspring with a mix of pollen and floral oils! This is the only bee in the family Melittidae found in BC. Photo © Jakob Dulisse

Already the BC Bee Atlas has made exciting discoveries! A new Perdita (fairy bee) species for BC was found in Kamloops, while a newly introduced bee species for North America was found on Vancouver Island. Rare and specialized species such as Macropis nuda (an oil-collecting bee) and Dufourea trochantera (a Phacelia specialist) have also been documented.

The findings from this program are critical for guiding habitat restoration and conservation strategies — particularly for rare bees and plants — and contribute directly to BC Nature’s mission: Knowing Nature and Keeping it Worth Knowing.

Thanks to the funding from this award, the BC Bee Atlas will be able to expand its efforts, train more volunteers, and deepen our collective understanding of BC’s incredible native bee diversity.

Learn more about the Native Bee Society of BC and the BC Bee Atlas.

Learn more about BC Nature.