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Clarence Landcare were successful in facilitating the formation of the ‘Clarence Natives Bees’ Landcare Group (CNBL), the first of its type in Australia, in 2014. The groups objective is, “To formulate actions to lift the profile and value of native bees in the community and attend to rescue of wild native bee hives during storm activity, tree lopping, or general rescue. Educate the wider community on the value of native bees for biodiversity, provide workshops on bee hive construction, hive extraction and native bee hive rescues.”

Since then, through a consultation process with Roads & Maritime Services & Pacific Complete & Environmental Protection Agency, Clarence Native Bees Landcare has paved the way to success for ensuring the survival of Native Stingless Bees in the Clarence. Native Stingless Bee Rescues have through this process in 2016 become a normal procedure for any highway clearing. For this, the CNBL developed and successfully implemented a new model on the North Coast of New South Wales for protecting busy social pollinators and biodiversity specialists — the native stingless bees. The model began as a project idea, before nabbing a 25^th Landcare Anniversary Grant and culminating in a series of workshops, training and consultation processes.

Working closely with EPA, Roads and Maritime Services and associated contractors, CNBL developed a protocol document to guide operational processes for rescuing native stingless bees along the 112km Pacific Highway realignment between Grafton and Ballina in Northern NSW.

An integral part of this protocol is the knowledge and skills provided to clearing contractors and ecologists in the identification and removal of damaged hive nests from felled trees.

Primarily, fauna survey processes now also include identification of native stingless bee hives, and any tree identified with a hive in it is also marked as a habitat tree. Once trees are felled, the hive nests are removed by ecologists through a series of processes guided by the rescue protocols. While the protocol may be guiding these rescue operations, it is the dedicated volunteers and their specialised knowledge that are making the real difference with native stingless bee rescues. On continuous call and driving up to 100km several times a week to meet ecologists on site, bee rescuers readily exchange equipment for buckets of hives or small damaged logs.

Bee rescuers say that re-stabilising a hive can be tricky, as each hive varies. Some hives have very few resources and others are loaded with sugar bags, which are a sticky affair and can become a real mess. Other hives come with predators such as ants, beetles, and wasps that are individually removed before placing the hive nests into special positions. Appropriate food resources and other materials associated with the pheromone of the hive nests are also placed alongside the hives into their allocated rescue boxes. This technique will ensure the survival of the bees and the brood while the worker bees gradually rebuild their nest.

A specifically designed monitoring form is completed for each individual rescue with data recorded from the field, rescue, re-stabilisation and final relocation of hives. This process was carefully coordinated by rescue coordinator Laura Noble, who also places the re-stabilised hives with carers into areas that will promote their survival. Carers will maintain the hives for up to 60 days or more until links and partnerships with community organisations and schools can be established; hives will then be provided to schools along with volunteer support.

If you’re interested in native bee rescue, Clarence Native Bee meetings typically occur on the first Thursday of the month at the South Grafton RSL at 5:30pm; message Bob on +(61)428592165 to confirm dates. For more information, visit the Clarence Native Bees website or contact Susan Moore on 02 6643 5009 or susan.moore@clarencelandcare.com.au.