Membership - Northern New England Pollinator Habitat Working Group
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| Members of the Northern New England Pollinator Habitat Working Group. |
Dr. Anne L. Averill, Professor, Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst
She is project director of a USDA-SCRI 5-year grant on native bee communities in Northeast farm habitats. Part of her work includes developing sampling methods and implementing ecologically-sound insect management tactics for cranberry in Massachusetts within interdisciplinary teams. She is responsible for compiling insect management recommendations for Massachusetts cranberry. Her studies include pathogen and parasite surveys, pesticide impacts, pesticide levels in bee-foraged pollen, and pollen preferences of bees. She will act as the lead contact for Massachusetts in the Working Group and will provide expertise as an entomologist and bee researcher, as well as interface with stakeholders and the public.
Expertise is in diversity and abundance of bee pollinators in managed cranberry and in natural sites and in land use impacts on populations.
Dr. Lois Berg Stack, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
She develops educational programs for greenhouse, nursery, garden center, and landscape professionals; advises green industry professional associations; and contributes to home gardening programs. She conducts applied research that responds to production and management needs of Maine’s ornamental horticulture industry. Her current projects include assessment of Aronia melanocarpa production in New England and assessment of introduced and native plants as pollen/nectar sources for native bees and honey bees. She will serve as liaison with green industry stakeholders and will act as the lead contact for Maine in the Working Group.
Expertise is in landscape plants: species performance, consumer acceptance, marketability, and cultural requirements in production and in landscapes: increasing knowledge of flowering plants’ ability to support honey bees and native bees.
Dr. Sid Bosworth, Extension Agronomist, University of Vermont Extension
Sid’s primary responsibility is to serve as a state extension specialist in agronomy. His primary areas of focus include field and forage crop management and utilization, forage quality, pasture and grazing management, and pest/weed management. He also conducts educational programs in environmental turf management. He is presently working on a project with Vermont beekeepers to enhance availability of late season forage. He will serve as lead contact for Vermont in the Working Group.
Expertise is in forage legumes that are vital to pollinators.
Lionel Chute, Director of Natural Resources, Sullivan County, New Hampshire
He is District Manager of the Sullivan County Conservation District as well as lands manager for county-owned lands. He is currently the project manager of a USDA-SCBG 2-year grant to promote native bees for agricultural pollination throughout New Hampshire via NH Conservation Districts.
Expertise is in botany, native plants, and natural plant communities.
Dr. Alison Dibble, Assistant Research Professor of Pollination Ecology, School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine
She is a conservation biologist and botanist and runs a consulting firm, Stewards LLC, that prepares conservation plans for agencies, farmers, and land trusts. Her research interests include measures of forest biodiversity, bee pollinators, impacts of exotic plants and insects on native ecosystems, and mosses, liverworts, and lichens as indicators of forest continuity. Presently she is in year three of a 5-year USDA grant on Pollination Security, with responsibilities for the Bee Module experiment to test bee preference for a wide selection of plants for bee gardens. She will help coordinate the Working Group’s research review, and help identify gaps, set priorities and develop additional resources.
Expertise is in conservation biology, botany, relationships between native wild bees and their host plants, forest ecology.
Dr. Frank Drummond, Professor of Insect Ecology, School of Biology and Ecology and Extension Professor of Blueberry Insect Pest Management and Pollination, University of Maine
He is the director of Maine’s efforts at providing sustainable pollination for lowbush blueberry in the Northeast through the Pollination Security Project. In addition, his personal research focuses on the pollination ecology of lowbush blueberry. This area of research involves bee foraging and floral handling behaviors as well as plant growth and development responses to the environment. He has close contact with the Maine blueberry growers and other grower groups.
Expertise is in bee taxa, biology, phenology, foraging behaviors, and distribution in the Northeast.
Jarrod Fowler, MS, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts
Mr. Fowler is an adjunct professor of Pollinator Biology and Habitat and USDA NRCS Technical Service Provider of Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Plans for New England. Proficient in sustainable pollinator habitat assessment, design, installation, maintenance, and monitoring.
Expertise is in entomological horticulture, environmental art, and sustainability science.
Aron Hoshide, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Faculty Associate, School of Economics, University of Maine
He is part of cross-disciplinary research team, determining economics of alternative pollination strategies to rented honey bees for pollination of wild blueberries in Maine, cranberries in Massachusetts, squash in Connecticut, and apples in New York. Pollination strategies include both alternative managed pollination such as bumble bee quads and creating bee forage and nesting habitat on-farm to encourage a diversity of native bees.
Expertise is in Agricultural Economics.
Amy Papineau, University of New Hampshire, Cooperative Extension
She is an Extension Field Specialist, working with agriculture and horticulture industries, including greenhouses, nurseries, landscapers, municipalities, and fruit and vegetable farmers.
Expertise is in wildflower meadow planting methods.
Rachel Maccini, University of New Hampshire, Cooperative Extension
She is an Extension Coordinator for the Pesticide Safety Education Program and Urban IPM, working with private and commercial pesticide applicators and the general public.
Expertise is in Urban Entomology with an interest in pollinators.
Dr. Cathy Neal, Extension Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and UNH Cooperative Extension Specialist in Landscape Horticulture
Works with the landscape and nursery industry to develop and conduct educational programs that enhance the environment and provide ecosystem services. Pollinator habitat, biodiversity and water quality protection are areas of current emphasis in outreach programs and in teaching Sustainable Landscape Design and Management. Investigating best techniques for establishing meadow gardens using native grasses and wildflowers—this project aims to help property owners/landscapers turn excess lawn areas or weedy areas into low-maintenance meadows that provide habitat for birds and pollinators and provide storm water infiltration areas with minimal inputs.
Expertise is in the selection, planting and establishment practices for landscapes using native grasses and wildflowers for creating sustainable pollinator habitats.
Jeff Norment, Wildlife Biologist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maine
Jeff is the pollination expert with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maine and works closely with the Xerces Society to produce nationwide publications and factsheets.
Expertise is in pollination conservation.
Charles Mraz, Beekeeper, Owner Champlain Valley Apiaries, Vermont
Owner of Champlain Valley Apiaries in Vermont founded by his grandfather Charles Mraz in 1931. He is an avid bee breeder of Champlain Valley’s bees, selecting the stock from hives that have successfully fought pests, diseases, and hard winters.
Expertise is in beekeeping.
Dr. Sandra Rehan, Assistant Professor of Genome Enabled Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire
Her research focuses on social evolution and genetics. She studies solitary and weakly social bees to understand the genetic underpinnings and ecological constraints selecting for social behavior. Her work includes field observations to explore the life history and ecology of bees in their natural habitats and lab based experiments to investigate behavioral plasticity.
Expertise is in native bee behavior, taxonomy, neuroanatomy, molecular phylogenetics, comparative genomics, biodiversity, and population genetics.
Annie White, a PhD student in her fourth year at UVM
Annie is interested in the mutualistic relationships between plants and pollinators and methods for incorporating native pollinator conservation into sustainable landscaping and agricultural practices. Annie’s research seeks to improve flowering plant selection for pollinator habitat.
Expertise is in pollinator ecology, conservation design, plant selection—native wildflower plants.