The week of June 15th is National Pollinator Week.
This initiative was originally created and is currently managed by the Pollinator Partnership, whose mission is to promote the health of pollinators critical to food and ecosystems, through conservation, education and research.
The subject of protecting pollinators has garnered increased attention of late – even from the office of the White House, where new efforts are underway to help protect the pollinator population.
John Holdren, White House science adviser writes in a recent blog post, “Pollinators are struggling.”
The White House recently announced their new goals and strategy for helping protect the pollinator population across the nation: to reduce the honeybee colony losses to no more than 15% within ten years.
In a recent episode of CNN’s “Inside Man”, since the 1940’s the honeybee population has dropped from 5 million bee colonies to 2.5 million. Reasons for the drastic decline have been speculated to be everything from parasites, bacteria and environmental stressors – even a lack of pollen.
In June of 2014, the current administration created a pollinator task force designed to investigate ways the federal government could do more to help protect pollinators and other insects.
“Pollinators play a critical role in maintaining diverse ecosystems and in supporting agricultural production,” says the Pollinator Health Task Force representative.
Laurie Davies Adams, the Executive Director of Pollinator Partnership said, “We are grateful to the President and the many federal partners, many of whom have been a part of NAPPC, who put so much time into making this a comprehensive blueprint for pollinator health. The comprehensive nature of this document will do a world of good for pollinators, and for the U.S.”
Swingle is taking a stance as well by limiting insecticide exposure to pollinators, and testing insecticides that are highly effective in controlling insects, but have a lower toxicity to the bee population.
Learn more about Swingle’s continued effort to protect pollinators, and visit the Pollinator Partnership website for ways in which you and your community can do their part to protect honeybees across the nation.
