What's the buzz this month at Bethpage State Park?

      Our National Honey Bee Day Celebration!               

Honey bee feeding on Blazing Star (Liatris spicata).

This month, our park hosted a National Honey Bee Day event, sponsored by Bayer BeeCare, who graciously awarded our park a grant to expand our picnic pollinator garden this year. With their cooperation and The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), we were able to put together a fun-filled day of fantastic activities and environmental learning. At the event, pollinator-friendly flowers (specifically varieties that bloom later in the season) were added to the existing garden by those in attendance. Amongst the planters was the Girl Scout Brownie Troop #3410; they actually planted sections in the garden earlier this spring but enthusiastically, came back for more on National Honey Bee Day! Giveaways included fuzzy toy bees, pollinator coloring pages, tools to identify pollinator host plants, even honey treats. Our on-site beekeepers Moira Alexander and Grace Mehl were also present, providing all the answers to everyone's bee questions. Using an observational beehive, the beekeepers captivated our event audience instantly, as they educated everyone on how bees create honey from multiple flower visits. All in all, we feel that this was a wonderful event in which we were able to enlighten both adults and children with information about why bees are important, why they need help and what Bethpage State Park is doing to save them! Take a look at all the unBEElievable fun we had in the photos below. 

Our honey bee informational booth, set up by our on-site bee keepers Moira and Grace.

Using an observational hive, Grace and Moira discuss the social and diversified roles honey bees have while living in a colony.   

Girl scouts eager to try honey samples made from local hives on Long Island.

One lucky scout got a real feel for what its like to be a beekeeper! 

The crowd gathers to learn more about Bethpage State Park and how we are dedicated to protecting bees/other pollinators and their habitats.

Golf course superintendent Andrew Wilson welcomes everyone to the park in honor of National Honey Bee Day. He discusses the steps in which our park staff continue to take to make our green space more pollinator friendly. Some of these steps include environmental outreach/educational tours, creating accessible information about pollinators and their host plants but most importantly, creating and increasing large pollinator gardens in both the picnic area and on our golf courses. 

Kevin Doyle from GCSAA discusses the importance of sustainable golf courses and why the golf industry is concerned about finding a proper balance between the needs of their patrons and the needs of local pollinators.

Part of the celebration included highlighting the massive garden in the picnic area and its biodiversity. This location is already thriving as a pollinator habitat, thanks to dedicated years of service from park staff and the help of local volunteers during planting events. 

We gave those participating in our National Honey Bee Day event another opportunity to expand this pollinator habitat  by providing additional native flowers for planting.