WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB — Pollinators have become a buzz word lately as populations of bees, birds and butterflies are on the decline around the globe.

More than one-third of the world’s crops depend on them. 

What You Need To Know

  • Wright-Patterson AFB has been working for years to help pollinators

  • In 2017, it was designated a Bee City USA Community

  • The Pollinator Expo is held each year to raise awareness

At Wright-Patterson AFB, it’s not exactly a matter of national defense, but there is a staff dedicated to protecting and encouraging a pollinator-friendly ecosystem. In 2017, the base became the first military installation designated as a Bee City USA Community because of its commitment to pollinators.

“I am the beekeeper at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” said Dwight Wells as he introduced himself. For years, the Air Force veteran has looked after the bees on base.

“It’s been an isolated area since WWI. Wright-Patt, because of the Mad River, there’s a lot of large trees that are over 100 years old, now that are hollow in the inside, have feral bees in them. I’m trying to keep the bees out of the buildings at Wright-Patterson. That’s why I have so many swarm traps,” Wells said.

Wells has around 40 swarm traps out in the area and around the base, but the bees aren’t the only pollinators Wright-Patterson’s environmental team works to help.

“I don’t think the general public realizes the great work the Department of Defense does to help protect and sustain pollinator populations. We manage the Huffman Prairie, which is of the largest tall grass prairie remnants in the region, and so that, of course, has a plethora of different pollinator species; monarchs, things like that, so we manage that and we also create every year several monarch habitats across the installation just to kind of help protect monarch populations as they migrate,” said Wright-Patterson AFB Biological Scientist Danielle Trevino.

Every year, they invite the public to celebrate the base’s Bee City designation. 

“We invite about 30 conservation organizations out from across the state that all do great work in their local communities to help protect pollinators and it’s really an offering to the public to come out and learn,” Trevino said.

That push to learn is exactly why Valerie Van Griethuysen hopes to add more native plants to her yard.

“As the world is heating up, there’s a lot of concern in what it’s doing to the wildlife and as well as to our insects. Insects are very unappreciated, but they’re so critical,” she said.

The insects might be underappreciated, but for Wells, they mean a lot.

His other mission is to share the bee.

“I’m starting to work with the 4-H kids in the area on their 4-H projects and we are giving them colonies of bees from Wright-Patterson and it’s working out great,” Wells said.