While some homeowners seek ways to keep bees out of their yards, the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service wants to educate the public on how to bring them in.

A free workshop, Planting for Pollinators, is set for 7-8 p.m. Thursday, May 4, at the extension office at 1109 W. Market St., Athens. The workshop will explain why it’s important to make a habitable environment for pollinators.

Extension agent Taylor Reeder said the lecture-type class will touch on matters such as why pollinators are important to the ecosystem and how to battle the lack of them in the area.

“Without a lot of our pollinators like bees, wasps, humming birds and butterflies, we wouldn’t have a lot of the foods we like such as cucumbers and squash,” she said. “It’s always good to have a habitat for wildlife to give them a place to live and feed so they can go out and pollinate.”

According to ACES, three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce, and one out of every three bites of food eaten is because of bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and beetles.

Reeder said a lot of the problem with pollinators’ environments is that urban developments tend to disrupt the natural habitat for wildlife.

“It’s an issue people are concerned about — there are reasons, like other insects and diseases, for the lack of bees but their habitat is one thing we can help with,” she said.

Along with a lecture, Reeder will give out wildflower seeds and explain how to plant them.

This is the first Planting for Pollinators workshop, but Reeder said she will conduct another workshop in the coming months about nuisance insects and how to keep them out of yards.

Reeder said anyone interested in Planting for Pollinators should pre-register by calling the extension office at 256-232-5510.