WNC Crop Institute offers native pollinator workshop

Pollinating insects play an essential role in agriculture, and their populations are declining worldwide. Conserving this valuable resource is the topic of a workshop hosted by Western Nevada College Specialty Crop Institute.

Presented by the Xerces Society, the Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course will be offered on Friday, May 3, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Western Nevada College Fallon Campus, 160 Campus Way. The workshop will be followed by a tour of the National Resources Conservation Service’s Great Basin Plant Materials Center in Fallon. Cost is $45.

Workshop topics include pollination economics and biology, bee-friendly farming, pollinator habitat and restoration, and more. Students will learn how to identify and protect nesting sites and how to design habitats for native pollinators. The tour of the Plants Material Center will provide field examples of pollinator habitats.

Featured speakers are Jennifer Hopwood and Jessa Guisse of the Xerces Society, an international nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Hopwood and Guisse are experienced in pollinator habitat management across the Midwest and Western United States.

Online registration is available at www.wnc.edu/sci. For more information, call 775-351-2551