Saving The Bees

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Created on Friday, 11 March 2016 15:56

Written by Alex Pinkham

Around The Northeast Kingdom- For years, the population of bees has been on the decline.  Now the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is trying to fix it.

Next week at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington, there will be an event to raise awareness about the declining numbers of pollinators that live in the state.  The goal of this is event is to educate people on how to best help the bees who make it posable for plants to grow and for us to eat and survive.  

"Pollination is a mutually beneficial relationship between plants and animals that act as pollinators were the plant provides pollen and nectar for the animal and in return the animal... provides a reproductive serves for the for the plant," said Mark Ferguson of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

As of last year, three different kinds of Bumble Bees have been put on the Threatened and Endangered list in Vermont.  According to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department those species are the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee, The Yellow-banded Bumble Bee, and the Ashton Cuckoo Bumble Bee.  The department has said that putting these bees on the list is only the beginning steps the saving them.  Other steps include making safe places for them to live and planting more native flowering plants to provide food.

According to the Vermont Legislature these are the reasons the bees were put into protection:

The Rusty-patched bumblebee was historically found in the Upper-Midwest, Northeast, and Eastern Seaboard, but its abundance has greatly decreased nationwide. In Vermont, the bumblebee was likely found state-wide from at least the 1960s to 1990s. However, the bee has not been observed in the state since 1999. The declines may be associated with habitat loss/degradation, increased pathogens, reduced genetic diversity, pesticides, and climate change.  

The Aston cuckoo bumblebee has undergone severe range reductions. Specifically, the population in Vermont appears to have declined drastically since the 1990s. This bee depends on taking over the nests of the other two proposed bees, the Rusty-patched bumblebee and the Yellow-banded bumblebee. Their population has declined as a result of the decline of other species. 

The Yellow-banded bumblebee was once commonly distributed throughout the Upper Midwest and the East, but has since experienced a decline of significant magnitude. Among other things, these bees are threatened by habitat degradation, climate change, pesticides, and pathogens.

So what is making one of the hardest workers in the world slowly die off?  A likely answer is human beings.  That includes what we do to the land and put on the plants.

"If Bumble bees are any indication there are some that are in decline.  And in a lot of cases that is going to be probably habitat related.  There are a lot of changes going on in the landscape, not just here in Vermont, but elsewhere, said Ferguson "Another one that we do not know how much of an effect it is having, all we know is that right not it could be a problem and there has been some issues that have been reported is that there are some insecticide that bees are particularly venerable to," said Ferguson "In particular theres a group called neonicotinoids… basically this is a group of insecticide that scientists … mimic the chemical form of nicotine which was historically used as an insecticide.  It turns out that bees are in particular are venerable to these new nicotinoids."

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife depertment hopes to get people to help protect the bees and other pollinators.  And that is what this event focuses on says Ferguson.  The focus is on three steps that everyday people can do to help the lives of the bees and other polluters, and in turn help ourselves survive by keeping our food sources heathy.    These are; pay attention to what is on the labels of pesticides and how to use them.  If you have a part of your lawn that is unkempt and has wild flowers it would be good to keep it because those wild native flowers provide food and pollen to the bees and other pollinators.  Another is to allow for there to be a place that bees could settle down and live year round.  These are all ways to help and provide a way for a bright and healthy future for human and bug to live in a give and take relationship.  This event will be held the 17 of March.  For more information you can go to the Agency of Natural Resources page.