The recent “buzz” on America's bee populations has been anything but positive. Most has involved the decline of European honeybees that are important pollinators of North American crops, but in the late 1990s, biologists started to notice a decline in the abundance and distribution of several bumblebee species in the Northeast. Today, three species may actually be extirpated from Vermont.

On Monday, March 11th at 7:00 p.m., at Hanover's Howe Library, Vermont Center for Ecostudies biologist Kent McFarland will give a presentation about the natural history and conservation of bumblebees in the region. A co-founder of the Center, Kent McFarland is a conservation biologist, photographer, writer and naturalist with over 20 years of experience across the Americas. He currently is spearheading the Vermont Bumblebee Survey.

The event is co-sponsored by Mascoma Chapter of New Hampshire Audubon and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. It is free and open to the public.