Research goals

Nest Quest has two primary goals:

• Create recommendations to help land managers identify and protect bumble bee nesting habitat.

• Compile species specific natural history information of nesting bumble bees, and record large and fine scale habitat associations. 

Nest Quest is designed to gather information on bumble bee nesting habitat in Minnesota via participatory science. Nest Quest was created to locate bumble bee nests across Minnesota and document habitat associations. This information will be shared with people who create, manage, and protect identified bumble bee nesting habitat. 

Why is it important to search for bumble bee nests? 

Bumble bees are important pollinators, and protecting all aspects of their habitat is vital to their longevity into the future. Relatively little is known about the nesting habitat of bumble bees. Opportunities to document nest characteristics and habitat is rare because they are often difficult to locate. This makes identifying and protecting habitat difficult. 

Nest Quest Past and Present 

Nest Quest started in 2024 focused in the Twin Cities Metro area. In 2024 and 2025, volunteers searched for nests at 4 sites in the metro area to find and document bumble bee nests. Overall, the project was a success and a community of nest searchers was created.

Nest Quest 2026 is the first year the project is expanding statewide.