Daily Inter Lake reporter Hailey Smalley talks with host Taylor Inman about the first of her two stories in her Outdoor Lab series - snow algae at Logan Pass and a bumble bee survey in an alpine meadow. 

Hailey spent time this summer with Carroll College researcher Ashley Beck, sampling snow algae at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park - the organism behind the pink red "watermelon snow" hikers spot on late-season snowfields, and a species researchers are only beginning to understand.  

Hailey and Taylor also joined USGS researcher Tabitha Graves for a bumble bee survey in an alpine meadow, learning how scientists net, chill, photograph and release bees to track species that are in decline nationwide. Montana ties for second in the country* for bumble bee species diversity, and Graves' work - including a Western bumble bee species of concern and a nest-parasite called the cuckoo bumble bee - is helping researchers understand what's actually out there.

Editor's note: Montana is tied with South Dakota in bumble bee diversity, not North Dakota as mentioned in the video. 

Learn more about Montana Bumble Bee Atlas at bumblebeeatlas.org and more about USGS bumble bee projects at Using Pollinator Environmental DNA to Assess the Ecological Resilience of America’s Grasslands and Western Bumble Bee and Native Pollinator Research

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Outdoor lab: Researchers tap into Glacier's snowfields to uncover mystery of colorful algae