Project lead: Rebekka Moser
Project team: Jürg Sommerhalder & André Rey
Background
In 2022 the Bee Unit of the Canton of Zurich, commissioned by the Cantonal Office for Landscape and Nature, compiled a catalogue of priority areas for wild bee conservation in the canton (“Identifying priority areas for the conservation of wild bees in the Canton of Zurich”). It defines conservation regions and the basis for regionally differentiated wild bee conservation. In a pilot project, the measures for the given wild bee target species are now to be brought together in one example region and carried out in cooperation with local stakeholders.
Photo: The six-banded furrow bee (Halictus sexcinctus) is one of the target species of the Irchel conservation region (photo: © Jürg Sommerhalder).
The planning process is to be modelled using the Irchel conservation region as an example. From the experience gained, an outline procedure is to be made available for the remaining areas. The Irchel conservation area was chosen because it 1) contains representative landscape types, 2) contains cantonal protected areas, 3) is only moderately well known in terms of its wild bee fauna and 4) has, as far as is known, seen no specific measures for wild bees carried out to date. The funds needed for planning and carrying out the measures are to be provided, depending on the landscape type, by the canton (departments of forestry, agriculture and nature conservation), by the municipalities and/or by foundations. The pilot project covers the groundwork up to the point at which the funds in question are available for planning and carrying out the measures.
The following steps matter for sound groundwork towards carrying out wild bee conservation measures:
- Groundwork: initial state (digitally, via existing inventories and queries), project description
- Meetings and site visits with cantonal and local stakeholders (agriculture, forestry, settlement)
- Mapping of species of national priority (the most important species in selected habitats), so that measures for these severely threatened species can be carried out as quickly as possible
- Communication through talks, media reports and/or an excursion, with the aim of winning partners for the project
- Plan of measures with proposed locations
- Pilot project report with outline procedure and funding model
Photo: The grey-scaled mining bee (Andrena pandellei) is a bellflower specialist and is listed as vulnerable (VU) on the Red List. It is an important target species of the Irchel conservation region. (Photo: © Jürg Sommerhalder).