How you can help save the bees

How you can help save the bees

(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — As part of a nationwide plan to promote the health of honeybees and other pollinators, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is giving away pollinator-friendly flower seeds for residents to plant at their homes.

On Tuesday, the department also used brightly colored tennis balls and enlisted employee Kristopher Watson to don a Velcroed costume featuring the Captain America shield to act like a bee buzzing around a bunch of flowers.

The flowers were actually played by exuberant fourth-graders from Meadowlark Elementary School, who were getting a visual, hands-on lesson on the importance of honeybees in cross-pollination.

By the end of the event, Watson's chest was covered with tennis balls representing a variety of pollen that, in real life, bees carry back to their hives for conversion into beebread, or the primary source of protein for the hive.

The free flower seeds, while supplies last, tennis balls and the agency's demonstration garden that sports bee-friendly flowers and other vegetation are a way to spread the word and help Utah residents help the pollinators.

Utah beekeepers are having to continually replenish their supplies and build new colonies because of mysterious die-offs of populations called colony collapse disorder, said agency spokesman Larry Lewis.

Last year, Utah experienced a 38 percent decline in its honeybee population — not as severe as some states, but more severe than others.

Jesus Bustmante tosses a tennis ball onto a Velcro target worn by Kristopher Watson, insect program manager at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Jesus Bustmante tosses a tennis ball onto a Velcro target worn by Kristopher Watson, insect program manager at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Experts can't point to a specific cause for the disorder, but suspected culprits include pesticides, stress, mites, inadequate forage or poor nutrition.

The decline of honeybee populations is a concern to agricultural producers, including those in Utah, where production and processing sectors account for $21.2 billion in economic output — or just over 15 percent of the state's economy — and generate more than 79,000 jobs.

Steve Stanko, an insect technician for the state, said roughly 30 percent of food on a dinner plate is pollinated by bees.

Utah, as the Beehive State, has about 900 species of bees that contribute to crop pollination on farms. Some plants, like the tomato, are only pollinated by bumblebees.

The state agency has worked with federal partners to help farmers and ranchers meet production goals but conserve natural resources and develop bee-friendly habitat.

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In San Juan County, a collaborative effort involving the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency resulted in land project of more than 34,000 acres incorporating features of pollinator habitat.

State officials are also referring people to a Utah State University-produced guide that details about 200 native plants that attract honeybees.

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