The Natural Resources Team with Destin-Fort Walton Beach in Okaloosa County is conducting environmental research surveys in the dunes of John Beasley Park on Okaloosa Island and on spoil islands in Santa Rosa Sound throughout October.
- The surveys focus on the gulf coast solitary bee, which lives underground and emerges only in late September and October. The bee has a mutually beneficial relationship with the coastalplain honeycombhead flower.
Eglin Air Force Base has granted the team permission to research the species. Visitors to the areas may see authorized researchers working in the dunes.
The research aims to help protect the bee species and the ecosystems within the county’s dune system.
More information about eco-tourism in Okaloosa County and Destin-Fort Walton Beach is available at https://www.destinfwb.com/explore/eco-tourism/.
One Response
Wonderful…pollinators are declining alarmingly nation-, and indeed worldwide. I applaud any efforts to help them, especially right here in our own back yard. This little bee may well already be in trouble due to habitat loss, pollution, pesticides and other environmental toxins and stressors.