Delphinium, Larkspur
Artist: Sarah Red-Laird
Title: Bee Habitat in Cyanotype 56
Location: J Bar L Ranch, Montana
Project: Coexistence & Bee Habitat Regeneration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Flower: Delphinium, Larkspur
Bee: Bombus fervidus, Golden Northern Bumble Bee & Bombus terricola Yellow-Banded Bumblebee
Materials: Cyanotype, bee collection, gold leaf, barnwood
Field Season: 2023
Composed: 2024
Beginning in 2023, BGO started a multi-year collaboration with the Anderson family, and three Montana ranches that they collectively manage: J Bar L in Centennial Valley, and the Anderson Ranch and Grizzly Creek in Tom Miner Basin.
In 2018 BGO’s executive program director, Sarah Red-Laird, attended a workshop at EcoFarm titled, “Range Riders: Coexisting with Predators,” featuring J Bar L Ranch’s Hilary Zaranek. As a student in the University of Montana’s “Wilderness and Civilization” program in 2008-2009, Sarah was all-too-familiar with the dynamic between Montana ranchers and wolf re-introduction. She hung on every word of the poetic presentation on low-stress livestock handling techniques and living within her cattle herd to protect them from bears and wolves (and vice versa, in a way), but what stuck with Sarah was the accounts of ecosystem recovery. Sarah questioned how Jar Bar L’s management transition to predator coexistence could affect local bee communities, did they recover along with the rest of the ecosystem?
Hilary’s experience of the return of biodiversity as a result of livestock grazing altercation and reintroduction of wolves, beaver, and bears mirrors those of similar projects in Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada. Though there is ample evidence to prove trophic recovery from coexistence, a rigorous long-term study specifically on bees affected by this management tactic has not been published.
BGO is collaborating with the Anderson family to better understand the dynamic between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s livestock, predators, and bees – to explore the question, could livestock/predator coexistence on rangelands be a key to diverse bee community conservation?
Rancher and co-steward of J Bar L, Andrew Anderson, was giving me a tour of the property - taking me around to potential spots to study bees and flowers, while I asked him 1.7 million questions about the history and management of the land, the livestock, and the wildlife.
While hanging off the side of a mountain in his Toyota, I noticed a thick swath of Delphinium, absolutely swarming with giant bumblebees.
Delphinium is toxic to cattle when in bloom, but the general ethic of coexistence on J Bar L extends to more than bears, wolves, and coyotes, all the way down to flowers. Instead defining these native wildflowers as weeds and eradicating them through pulling or spraying, the ranch team let’s them thrive while they fence their cows off, far away from this patch that could lead to serious trouble if ingested by livestock.
Bombus fervidus, the golden northern bumble bee is widespread (though not common) across the northern US and into Canada. However, their populations are in decline and are listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN’s Red List. They face a multitude of threats from climate change to habitat loss to forestry pollution. To aid in the conservation of this bee, consider planting Cirsium (thistles), Trifolium (clovers), and Monarda (bee balm).
Bombus terricola, the yellow-banded bumble bee, was once widely distributed across the northern United States and into the Canadian provinces, but is becoming increasingly rare. These bees emerge early in the spring and are in need of a good supply of pollen to start their colonies. To support them, plant willow (Salix), cherry (Prunus), maple (Acer), alder (Alnus), poplar (Populus), horse chestnut (Aesculus), redbud (Cercis) and sassafras (Sassafras). Learn more about this bee and her conservation concerns here.
A note here regarding bee research, and a common reaction from those working outside of the world of melittology and entomology - “Why are their dead bees in your art? Aren’t you trying to save them?”