WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration hopes to save the bees by feeding them better.
A new federal
plan aims to reverse America's declining honeybee and monarch butterfly
populations by making millions of acres of federal land more
bee-friendly, spending millions of dollars more on research and
considering the use of fewer pesticides.
While
putting different type of landscapes along highways, federal housing
projects and elsewhere may not sound like much in terms of action,
several bee scientists told The Associated Press that this a huge move.
They say it may help pollinators that are starving because so much of
the American landscape has been converted to lawns and corn that don't
provide foraging areas for bees.
"This is the first time I've seen
addressed the issue that there's nothing for pollinators to eat," said
University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, who buttonholed
President Barack Obama about bees when she received her National Medal
of Science award last November. "I think it's brilliant."
Environmental
activists who wanted a ban on a much-criticized class of pesticide said
the Obama administration's bee strategy falls way short of what's
needed to save the hives.
Scientists
say bees — crucial to pollinate many crops — have been hurt by a
combination of declining nutrition, mites, disease, and pesticides. The
federal plan is an "all hands on deck" strategy that calls on everyone
from federal bureaucrats to citizens to do what they can to save bees,
which provide more than $15 billion in value to the U.S. economy,
according to White House science adviser John Holdren.
"Pollinators
are struggling," Holdren said in a blog post, citing a new federal
survey that found beekeepers lost more than 40 percent of their colonies
last year, although they later recovered by dividing surviving hives.
He also said the number of monarch butterflies that spend the winter in
Mexico's forests is down by 90 percent or more over the past two
decades, so the U.S. government is working with Mexico to expand monarch
habitat in the southern part of that country.
The plan calls for
restoring 7 million acres of bee habitat in the next five years.
Numerous federal agencies will have to find ways to grow plants on
federal lands that are more varied and better for bees to eat because
scientists have worried that large land tracts that grow only one crop
have hurt bee nutrition.
The
plan is not just for the Department of Interior, which has vast areas of
land under its control. Agencies that wouldn't normally be thought of,
such as Housing and Urban Development and the Department of
Transportation, will have to include bee-friendly landscaping on their
properties and in grant-making.
View gallery
Graphic shows bee colony losses by state since April 2014. The graphic will be published later today …
That part of the bee plan got praise from scientists who study bees.
"Here,
we can do a lot for bees, and other pollinators," University of
Maryland entomology professor Dennis van Englesdorp, who led the federal
bee study that found last year's large loss. "This I think is something
to get excited and hopeful about. There is really only one hope for
bees and it's to make sure they spend a good part of the year in safe
healthy environments. The apparent scarcity of these areas is what's
worrying. This could change that."
University of Montana bee
expert Jerry Bromenshenk said the effort shows the federal government
finally recognizes that land use is key with bees.
"From my
perspective, it's a wake-up call," Bromenshenk wrote in an email.
"Pollinators need safe havens, with adequate quantities of high-quality
resources for food and habitat, relatively free from toxic chemicals,
and that includes pollutants as well as pesticides and other
agricultural chemicals."
Berenbaum said what's impressive is that
the plan doesn't lay the problem or the solution just on agriculture or
the federal government: "We all got into this mess and we're going to
have to work together to get out of it," he said.
The administration proposes spending $82.5 million on honeybee research in the upcoming budget year, up $34 million from now.
The
Environmental Protection Agency will step up studies into the safety of
widely used neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been temporarily
banned in Europe. It will not approve new types of uses of the
pesticides until more study is done, if then, the report said.
"They
are not taking bold enough action; there's a recognition that there is a
crisis," said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director for the
advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity. She said the bees cannot
wait, comparing more studies on neonicotinoids to going to a second and
third mechanic when you've been told the brakes are shot.
"Four
million Americans have called on the Obama administration to listen to
the clear science demanding that immediate action be taken to suspend
systemic bee-killing pesticides, including seed treatments," Friends of
the Earth food program director Lisa Archer said in statement. "Failure
to address this growing crisis with a unified and meaningful federal
plan will put these essential pollinators and our food supply in
jeopardy."
But CropLife
America, which represents the makers of pesticides, praised the report
for its "multi-pronged coordinated approach."
The report talks of a
fine line between the need for pesticides to help agriculture and the
harm they can do to bees and other pollinators.
Lessening "the
effects of pesticides on bees is a priority for the federal government,
as both bee pollination and insect control are essential to the success
of agriculture," the report said.
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The White House bee strategy: http://1.usa.gov/1Ad2DUE
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(CBS photo)
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