Pollinator habitat audit + rusty patched bumble bee presence documentation — Upper Midwest (MN/WI/IL).

The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) was the first bumble bee federally listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act, and its remaining range sits almost entirely in the Upper Midwest. The Xerces Society's species-specific habitat form turns an ordinary site audit into usable presence/habitat data for a listed species — recorded and reported, never collected or handled.

Where

Upper Midwest (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and the historic Bombus affinis range across MN/WI/IL) — on-site, observe-only · Open the map

Pay

$160 proposed

This packet is not funded yet, so this figure is a proposed price and not money waiting in escrow. If a buyer funds it, approved proof settles that price onchain. If nobody funds it, approved proof earns provable credit toward the work instead of cash — recorded, and readable any time at vealth.net/labor/credit/(your wallet). You see which before you claim, never after.

Proof

A category-scored habitat audit using the species-specific form, plus a dated observation log of any bumble bee identified to species only where confidently possible — with no capture, handling, or collection, and any candidate rusty patched bumble bee sighting routed for expert/photo confirmation

This is exactly what gets it approved. Nothing settles without it.

Level

skilled

Open until

2027-01-27

Posted by

0x034F…6c89

The creator wallet. Its signature is what approves proof and settles the wage.

How this work is done

A documented method, so this packet comes out the same whoever does it.

Bring

• The Xerces Society Habitat Assessment Guide and scoresheet matched to the site type (yard/garden/park, farm/ag landscape, natural area/rangeland, or species-specific form)
• A regional native-plant / bloom-period reference list
• A tape measure or paced-distance method for estimating habitat area and buffer/setback distances
• The site's known pesticide-use history where available

Steps

1. 1. Select the matching Xerces guide/scoresheet for the site type and record the site boundary and total area.
2. 2. Foraging Habitat: walk the site and tally pollinator-friendly bloom present in spring, summer, and fall SEPARATELY — a season with no blooming forage is a named gap, not just a lower score.
3. 3. Nesting Habitat: survey for both ground-nesting conditions (bare or sparsely vegetated, well-drained soil) and cavity/stem-nesting material (dead wood, pithy or hollow stems, bunch grasses left standing); record presence/absence and rough extent of each.
4. 4. Pesticide Practices: record known spray history, timing relative to bloom, and any buffer/setback from foraging or nesting habitat; note drift risk from neighboring land.
5. 5. Score each category per the guide's point system (Foraging up to 100, Nesting up to 50, Pesticide Practices up to 35, Community Action up to 40) and total the site score.
6. 6. Where the site falls within an ESA-listed pollinator's range (e.g. the rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis), apply the matching Xerces species-specific habitat form; OBSERVE only, never handle or collect the species.
7. 7. Write the improvement plan the site owner actually owns: named gaps by category with concrete, dated next steps (species to plant for the missing bloom season, no-mow/no-spray zones, etc.).
8. 8. Set the re-audit date and record the baseline score for trend.

What counts as done

• Bloom-season forage, nesting habitat, and pesticide-practice categories scored per the species-specific Xerces form
• Any bumble bee observation logged with date, location, and photo where possible, identified to species only when confidently distinguishable — never assumed
• Any candidate rusty patched bumble bee sighting routed to the Xerces Society's own reporting tool / state natural heritage program for expert confirmation, with no capture or handling
• A dated, site-owner-actionable habitat improvement plan recorded for every category gap found

Proof is measured against these, not judged by taste.