Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The number of honeybee colonies has been dwindling in Virginia for the last decade according to the VA Department of Agriculture, but last winter the state lost almost 60 percent of its honeybee colonies, up from 30 percent in other years.
“This is startling news,” said spokesperson Elaine Lidholm.
No one cause is leading to the losses. It’s a combination of things that’s killing off the honeybees, according to Lidholm, including environmental conditions, pests, diseases and pesticide use.
At this point, Lidholm said nobody knows if this massive loss of honeybee colonies will continue in coming years.
Lidholm said the state has taken steps to mitigate the problem, including encouraging existing beekeepers to add hives, trying to get new people into beekeeping, and telling farmers to plant flowers around their fields to attract bees.
In Virginia 30 percent of crops must be pollinated by honeybees and other creatures according to Lidholm.
“Without it, to put it in very practical terms, if you sit down to dinner and you take two bites, take that third bite away because that’s what you would lose if we didn’t have pollinators,” said Lidholm.
Last summer the VA Department of Agriculture met with beekeepers, farmers and pesticide applicators to address the honeybee loss and came up with a pollinator protection plan.
Everyone can help save the bees, Lidholm said, by planting pollinator gardens. She recommends people go to brainstormed.org to figure out how to do that.
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