The Trustees of Reservations has received additional funding from the Edey Foundation to support ongoing efforts to document native bees and other pollinators on Martha’s Vineyard this year.

An inventory last year covered a wide range of habitats and generated the first-ever, season-long “snapshot” of Vineyard pollinators, with nearly 10,000 specimens of bees collected and more than 130 species (and counting) of bees identified, including species not seen in the region for almost four decades.

These numbers represent nearly a third of New England’s known bee fauna, and a tenfold increase in the documented occurrences of native bee species on the Vineyard. The rusty-patched bumblebee, Bombus affinis, a target species recorded from the Island as recently as the early 1990s but not in 2010, is suspected of having been extirpated from the region, and extra efforts this year will target the species to confirm or refute its disappearance from the Vineyard.

With the help of volunteers, the inventory is coordinated by entomologist Dr. Paul Goldstein. It is taking place Islandwide on multiple properties owned or managed by The Trustees, Mass Audubon, the Nature Conservancy, Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, Vineyard Conservation Society, and state-owned lands.

For details on how to get involved, call 508-693-7662.