Dr. Marla Spivak is a MacArthur Fellow and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in Entomology in the College of Food, Agricultural and and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota. She also leads the Spivak Honey Bee Lab.

Spivak’s current research includes studies of the benefits of propolis (tree resins) to the health and immune system of honey bees; the identification and biological activity of honey bee collected resins; the development of “bee lawns”—pollinator habitat in urban landscapes; the use of native forbs by honey bees through identification of collected pollen and decoding bees’ dance language; the health of commercial honey bee colonies and the evaluation of queens’ breeders efforts to select stocks for resistance to diseases and mite pests; novel methods to control Varroa mites in honey bee colonies; and surveys of native bees in Minnesota.

Dr. Andony Melathopoulos is an Assistant Professor in Pollinator Health Extension in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University, which was the first such position in the US. He also sits on the Steering Committee of the Oregon Bee Project, which coordinates pollinator health work across state agencies and hosts a weekly podcast called PolliNation. In 2018, Andony was recognized with the National Pollinator Advocate Award by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.

Talk title: The (considerable) challenge of building bee pasture in the Pacific Northwest
Description: The erosion of the area planted to honey bee forages has significant impacts not only to honey yields, but also to the health of honey bee colony stocks. While there have been a number of efforts to increase forage area by federal, private and local regional initiatives, the bulk of investments have been made in the Northern Great Plains or California. Oregon, Washington and BC in contrast, lag behind. This presentation outlines some of the specific needs for forage in the Pacific Northwest region and some of the key challenges facing the expansion of area planted to forages. It will also outline some of the low-hanging fruit for getting honey bee forage projects off the ground in the region.

Dr. Tara Moreau is the Associate Director of Sustainability and Community Programs at UBC Botanical Garden where she oversees educational programs, sustainability initiatives and community outreach. With the goal of advancing local and global sustainability, Tara designs and contributes to programs and partnerships such as the Sustainable Communities Field School, Grow Green Guide, and CBIRD.

Tara has over 18 years of working to advance local and global food systems. She is a board member at SPEC a Vancouver-based environmental NGO and was a long-standing member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council (2012-2018). In 2012, Tara completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions through a joint appointment at UBC and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She holds a PhD in Plant Science from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (UBC, 2010), an MSc in Agriculture (Dalhousie University, 2004) and a BSc in Biology & Environmental Science (Bishops University, 2000).

She has worked internationally as a consultant with the UN-Food and Agriculture Organization and her publications, presentations and educational programs relate to climate change, food systems, sustainability education, agriculture, biodiversity, pest management and food policy across multiple jurisdictions.

In 2020, Tara was recognized with the 2020 American Public Gardens Association (APGA) Professional Citation award for significant innovation and achievements in public horticulture and the 2020 Marsh Award for Education in Botanic Gardens.

Dr. Nuria Morfin, lead of the newly formed Technology Transfer Program – BCHPA, has been working with honey bees since 2006 as a beekeeper, instructor, and researcher. Nuria got her Ph.D. from the University of Guelph in 2018 studying the effect of stressors on honey bee health and behaviour. She worked as a researcher at the Honey Bee Research Centre – University of Guelph and as a Bee Inspector for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs prior to this position. She actively collaborates with Beekeepers’ Associations to research and educate on Integrated Pest Management strategies, working towards a healthy and more productive beekeeping industry. Her experience also includes working with Africanized bees and stingless bees. Bees are her passion!

Talk: Breeding for Varroa resistant bees: an IPM approach to control mites.
Description: Selecting for Varroa resistant bees is an essential component of an IPM strategy. This project used worker bees selected for high and low Varroa population growth to investigate the mechanisms that regulate self-grooming behaviour using RNA-sequencing. This research is a collaboration between the Honey Bee Research Centre – the University of Guelph and Purdue University and funded by Project Apis m.

Dr. Marta Guarna, Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada.
Dr. Guarna is a Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia. Her collaborative research focuses on honey bee queens, emerging bee pathogens, and on bee health and pollination. Prior to joining AAFC, she was Scientific Director of the BeeIPM project at UBC, where she was integral in leading initiatives on honey bee breeding and proteomics. She had previously worked extensively in the biopharmaceutical field. Dr. Guarna is originally from Argentina and completed her doctoral studies at New York University.

Lincoln Best is Oregon State University’s native bee taxonomist and leads the efforts of the Oregon Bee Atlas. He is obsessed with natural history, the little things, and designing plant communities to support biodiversity. He has studied the biodiversity of native bees from Haida Gwaii to Tasmania, and from Baja California to Taiwan. Few things excite him more than observing 4mm native bees on their floral hosts in arid habitats.

Topic: The Pacific Northwest has a rich diversity of native bees.

Description: The Pacific Northwest has a rich diversity of native bees. Lincoln Best will describe some of the strange and weird bees that call the region home and the journey of discovery by Oregon’s volunteer Master Melittologists and BC’s Bee Trackers to document them all.

Dr. Kelly Kulhanek, Postdoctoral Researcher, Hopkins Lab, Washington State University

Kelly is a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU Bee Program. She came to WSU after completing her doctorate studying honey bee health and management practices lab at the University of Maryland. At WSU, she works on commercial beekeeping practices including indoor storage of colonies and improving Varroa management.

Title: Future Applications of Indoor Storage: Queen Banking and Other Possibilities

Kelly’s talk will feature results from WSU’s work on the indoor storage of colonies. Beekeepers typically use indoor storage to reduce labor and materials inputs into colonies overwinter. The WSU Bee Program is looking into other potential uses for indoor storage. Kelly will share recent results on projects investigating indoor queen banking and Varroa management.

Executive Director and Co-founder at Hives for Humanity Society
I am passionate about fostering vibrant and healthy community through empowerment and experiential education. I believe in the profound impact of connecting individuals and communities to their land, food and spirit.
I seek to engage through collaboration and courageous/vulnerable conversation, to foster inclusive spaces of meaningful opportunity.
My ancestry is to Ireland and Germany, and as I have been learning about the hills and waters my grandparents walked, I have been deepening my understanding of how I walk, how I move, with and on these stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsliel-Waututh Nations, and in my community engaged work in the Downtown Eastside. As a person of settler descent how do I acknowledge and seek to dismantle the systems that have privileged me and excluded others, done and continue to do violence? How do I learn from the honey bees, also guests here, to share my unique gifts, while honouring all the ways of knowing and being that exist here? How do I move into reciprocal relationships of respect and love, through gathering and care in community, towards Land Back?

Ask me about the Hastings Folk Garden! Ask me about Community Engaged Governance! Ask me about how we might learn from the bees to communicate, include and thrive!

Kate Mizenka is the founder of Elk Root Conservation Farm Society. She is an avid bee conservationist, expert beekeeper and knowledge sharer. Kate is the innovator behind Elk Root Conservation’s Sustainable Apiary Model and designer of Elk Root Conservation’s Educational Demonstration Gardens. Elk Root Conservation is located adjacent to the ancestral Sinixt village site of n’kʔáwxtən, in Sinixt təmxʷúlaʔxʷ and within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) at the confluence of the Slocan River and Little Slocan River in Vallican, the Slocan Valley, British Columbia. Our vision is a thriving fish, wildlife and human population in the Slocan Valley and Little Slocan River watershed that is functioning and sustainable.

Our not-for-profit mission is to protect, restore and enhance fish and wildlife habitat by example through boots-on-the-ground habitat conservation projects and by offering inclusionary and inspiring learning opportunities through research, innovation, and hands-on education at Elk Root Conservation’s Educational Demonstration Gardens. Our educational workshops focus on ecological stewardship, wildlife conservation & habitat restoration, honey bee wellness & wild pollinator gardens, sustainability, regenerative ‘beyond’ organic gardening, biodiverse farming practices and local food security.

In addition to the cultural significance of our location to the Sinixt peoples, the reach of the confluence is a unique and ecologically important wildlife corridor. It is the perfect place to demonstrate how protecting the planet and our local food security go hand-in-hand. Not only for ourselves, but for our children and future generations to come.