The Fort Vancouver National Historic Site will host a free evening lecture Tuesday about the biology, identification and recent decline of bumblebees.
The 7 p.m. program in the Tex Rankin Theater at Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E. Fifth St., will feature James P. Strange, U.S. Department of Agriculture research entomologist.
Strange’s public talk will be “Bumble Bee Declines in North America: Placing Local Events into the Big Picture.” Reservations are not required.
Strange specializes in issues related to bumblebees, including their management in agricultural settings and the conservation and genetics of declining species.
Strange has surveyed bumblebee populations for six years across the Western U.S. While pesticide kills are dramatic, Strange said, some even more alarming trends have come out of his surveys.
