SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Students at Central Columbia High School near Bloomsburg are busy drilling and sanding. The agricultural sciences class is working on a community service project.
The students are making bee houses.
"Etched the logo with our laser, and we used our CNC router to rout the holes in and we used drill presses to further the holes in deeper for the bees to live in," Owen Yorty said.
But aren't bees supposed to live in hives? Not mason bees. The mason bee burrows into wood and is good at pollinating. But the students say mason bees are dying off due to loss of habitat.
"They pollinate local flowers and plants, along with agriculture crops such as fruit trees in our local area. They are essential to our habitat," Yorty said.
Teacher Doug Brown is a member of the Columbia County Conservation District. Recently, the Conservation District teamed up with these students to build bee houses. The students in the agricultural sciences class are all members of Future Farmers of America.
"We thought it was a really great idea that we get involved with the project, seeing that the FFA part is the community service part, living to serve. It fit into what we were doing with our woodworking unit," Brown said.
The Conservation District bought the materials, and the students are providing the manpower.
When the bee houses are finished, the students will donate them to the Columbia County Conservation District, so the organization can sell them.
The students made 24 bee houses. The Columbia County Conservation District will sell them for $10 each at its plant sale later this month.