Get An Earful - Native Bees with Mary O'Brien

*Saturday Extra* Utah is home to some of the most diverse native bee populations in the nation with 1,128 recorded in the state. These species pollinate flowers and plants essential to our native ecosystems. But some experts say that native bees are vulnerable, especially in light of a potential plan that would store private honey bees on Utah’s National Forests, including the Manti-La Sals. They say the honey bees will outcompete and displace native bees in their habitat, changing the ecosystem. Today on the extended newscast, we speak with Mary O’Brien, the Utah Forest Program Director for conservation group Grand Canyon Trust. She and Grand County beekeeper Jerry Shue are presenting this complicated bee issue during a public talk next week.

[Photo: Western bumblebee, Bombus occidentalis. Courtesy of Grand Canyon Trust]