MANISTIQUE — Schoolcraft Conservation District is providing a free workshop on pollinators Thursday, June 27. The workshop will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Manistique. The workshop will include presentations on pollinator basics, how to create natural habitat for honey bees and other pollinators and present information on pollinator habitat grants available through the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The workshop will also serve as a reminder of the 100 crop species providing 90 percent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees. It is estimated one out of three bites of food exist because of pollinators. With pollinator species in decline, creating and improving pollinator habitat is an important focus of SCD and the NRCS. The 2014 Farm Bill retains the pollinator conservation provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill adding support for the creation of honey bee habitat. The 2008 Farm Bill provided pollinators and their habitat special consideration when determining payments for practices that promote pollinator habitat under the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.

SCD will also have available at the workshop native wildflower seed mix for pollinators. This is a special seed mix harvested from natural areas in the central and eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan by Borealis Seed Company for SCD. Species in the mix include common milkweed, black-eyed Susan, hare figwort, coreopsis (tickseed), evening primrose, blazing star, bee balm (monarda), aster, false sunflower, columbine and pearly everlasting. The seeds are sold by the ounce. Please register for this event by calling SCD at 906-341-8215.