A state task force charged with helping Oregon lawmakers respond to honeybee die-offs has released its final report, spurring outcry from one task force member who argues the suggestions are too weak.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation – one of eight groups with a voting member on the task force – is criticizing the motives behind the recommendations the group delivered to the Oregon Legislature last week.
“Groups representing pesticide manufacturers, retailers and the nursery industry were able to stifle efforts to protect pollinators,” a release from the group stated.
Namely, representatives from the Xerces Society argued the recommendations don't include enough measures to curb the use of neonicotinoids, a type of insecticide known to kill bees and other pollinators.
But representatives who voted against increased neonicotinoid oversight argue the conservationists' view represents a narrow-minded view of the bees' plight. Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries and a member of the task force, argued existing alternatives to neonicotinoids are costlier, less effective and more dangerous to humans.
“When you start looking at banning things, it has to be for all the right reasons,” said Stone, who voted against neonicotinoid restrictions.
The task force’s eight voting members unanimously recommended expanding outreach and education about bees, supporting new research and increasing pollinator habitat, among other suggestions.
The majority of task force members also supported stronger measures such as banning neonicotinoids in state forests and requiring retailers to label plants that have been treated with the pesticides, but those recommendations were not prioritized due to a lack of consensus.
Bee die-offs have been an issue of concern in Oregon and beyond, as a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder has caused pollinator populations to plummet in recent years. That's bad news for the plants that depend upon pollinators to grow – including many produce section staples.
In response to the crisis, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced plans to ban neonicotinoids on all national wildlife refuges by 2016.
Aimee Code, the Xerces Society’s representative on the task force, said excluding similar restrictions from the Oregon recommendations is like building “a two-legged stool.”
“If we are to bring back pollinators we need to address all the core issues,” Code said.
The Center for Biological Diversity joined in the outcry, calling the task force’s recommendations “very disappointing.”
“There is no question that systemic neonicotinoid pesticides are one of the biggest threats facing Oregon’s honey bees and imperiled native bees,” said Lori Ann Burd, the center's endangered species campaign director.
Oregon's most notable bee die-off occurred in 2013, when 50,0000 bumble bees dropped dead in the parking lot of a Target store after landscapers sprayed a neonicotinoid-containing insecticide on linden trees to control aphids.
--Kelly House