Kaleden teenager recognized for stellar work with bees
Kaleden has its first public pollinator garden thanks to a young man with a passion for bees and a promising future.
Earlier this year, Grade 12 student, Ben Davidson was awarded a grant from the Kaleden Community Association to establish the garden.
After going through a site selection process, Davidson created the garden at the Kaleden library.
Pollinator gardens provide critical habitats for wild, native bees which play a critical and largely unrecognized role in pollination.
Bees are the No. 1 pollinator while butterflies, hummingbirds and some other insects and a few mammals may be involved in certain areas.
“So far I’ve seen bumble bees, sweat bees and mason bees at the garden,” Davidson said.
He explained that the South Okanagan is rich in types of bees.
In B.C., there are more than 450 species. The No. 1 threat to pollinators is loss of habitat which makes pollinator gardens so important.
A good pollinator garden should contain a diversity of local plants with a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colours.
“I planted nine different self seeding plants including heather, lavender and echinacea,” Davidson said.
Keen on creating awareness about bees and other pollinators, he encourages community members to enjoy the garden as they pass by.
The library garden will be the first of several bee-friendly gardens if Davidson’s applications to various sources to establish more are successful.
His interest in bees started as an elementary student.
“I liked seeing the observation hive at the Okanagan Wildbrush Honey stand at the Penticton Farmers’ Market,” he said.
Owned by Kevin and Janelle Dunn, Wildbrush provides customers with pure wildflower honey from Okanagan flowers and fruit growers with bees during pollination season.
When Davidson was in elementary school, his father kept mason bees at the family home.
Excellent pollinators, mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other masonry material in constructing their nests.
Bees continued to be of interest to Davidson as he got older.
“Two years ago, I took a course at Okanagan College when Kevin started mentoring me, he said.
Today, he helps Dunn with bee keeping tasks across the Okanagan and has his own backyard hive.
Over a year ago, Davidson began working toward the Gold Medal level of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The award recognizes and celebrates young people’s achievements outside of the classroom, regardless of their background, culture, and access to resources.
The young people can enter what they are passionate about for the three main sections used as criteria for the award.
Davidson chose beekeeping for the skill section and swimming and hospital volunteering for the fitness and volunteering sections.
He has been a KISU swimmer since he was six years old and is in Swim Academy.
Working as volunteer at Penticton Regional Hospital prompted Davidson to consider medicine as a career.
“I’m not sure what my eventual career goal is but university is definitely part of the plan,” he said.
A project at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre and a canoe tripe on Stave Lake near Mission, helped to fulfill requirements for the award.
He is on track to complete all components of the award within the next six months.
A French immersion student at Pen-Hi, he works on weekends as a tour guide and translator at the Dominion Radio Telescope.