25,000 wild bees poisoned in Oregon - oops

juniper · Jun 21, 2013

Not sure if this is a big enough story to qualify for this forum, but it needs to be remembered.

An estimated 25,000 (yes 25-thousand) bumblebees have been killed in Oregon in one fell swoop - apparently by the misuse of an insecticide.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/06/25000_bubblebees_killed_droppi.html#/0

"The Oregon Department of Agriculture received reports of bees and other insects falling out of 55 blooming European linden trees Monday from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation."

Last report I heard was that the insecticide called Safari was sprayed onto blooming trees - contrary to the label instructions. This has been called the largest mass bumblebee poisoning on record.

I think most people have heard of the worldwide decline of the honeybee population, but don't know that bumblebees are also at risk.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130510-honeybee-bee-science-european-union-pesticides-colony-collapse-epa-science/

Or maybe most people haven't heard, or don't realize the implications of losing the wild pollinators. I've mentioned this story to a couple of people and have been met with, "Oh well." Or just, "Oh" and a blank look.

The owners of the parking lot where this occurred aren't giving interviews, and the landscape company responsible hasn't been identified. I don't know if they'll face charges, but even so, how can we put a price on 25,000 bees?

Irony - the killing happened on the first day of National Pollinator Week, which is supposed to raise awareness of the importance of bees.

More here from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

http://www.xerces.org/2013/06/21/pesticide-causes-largest-mass-bumble-bee-death-on-record/

MacAllister · Jun 21, 2013

Oh gawds - no. I hadn't seen the story yet. This really is awful news. The honeybee/bumblebee population decimation has been pretty high on my list of stuff to worry about and try to help mitigate, the last few years, too.

Local county-extensions often offer bee-keeping classes or seminars, or will hook you up with local folks to find out things like what sorts of flowers to plant in your yard and so on, to help with some of the environmental stresses.

Fran · Jun 21, 2013

Poor wee bees.

I don't have a garden, but I signed the petition to get the EU to ban a chemical that's suspected of killing bees. They didn't. Scumbags. I'm really worried about the bees.

frimble3 · Jun 21, 2013

Ah, but that's the beauty of doing this sort of thing 'accidentally'. Whether it's killing bees, or chopping down a grove of trees to improve your view, once it's done, you can go 'Oops!' and get on with your life. There's no practical way to undo the damage, and it's hard to make a realistic calculation of damages, because the destroyers will downplay the damage, and there are no real standards.
Although 25,000 cockroaches, divided equally between the offices of the parking lot company, and the landscapers, seems a good start.

DancingMaenid · Jun 21, 2013

That's terrible. Poor bees.

Magdalen · Jun 21, 2013

I was reading up on neonicotinoids (teh evil sanMonto) and several articles indicated that it wasn't necessarily the "active ingredient" causing the problems -- it could be the surfactant.* I'll see if I bookmarked any of the sites I perused. I'm actually very uncomfortable around bees (irrational fear) but I certainly don't wish to see them annihilated!!!

Surfactants include: activators; compatibility agents; deflocculators; detergents; dispersants; emulsifiers; foam and drift suppressants; and spreading, sticking, and wetting agents. These materials are added to a spray mix to help keep the pesticide in suspension; improve cohesiveness and dispersion of the spray; and increase the wetting (or coverage) of the leaves, fruits, and stems.

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/pesticides/formulation.html

(During the late 1990s this class of pesticides, primarily imidacloprid, became widely used. Beginning in the early 2000s, two other neonicotinoids, clothianidin and thiamethoxam were in use as well. Currently, virtually all corn that is planted in the Midwestern United States is treated with one of these two insecticides and various fungicides. In addition, most soybean seeds are also treated with a neonicotinoid insecticide, usually thiamethoxam. Clothianidin is one of the most toxic substances known for honey bees.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid#Active_substances

ETA: http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/pesticide/pdfs/Surfactants.pdf

*for aquatic/amphibious creatures, not insects, I should add.

Zoombie · Jun 21, 2013

Actually, it sounds like there is something we can do about this.

1) Stop using this insecticide

2) Set up bee farms and try to introduce said farmed bees into the wild.

My question is how difficult the second would be?

Albedo · Jun 21, 2013

I believe Nic Cage said it best.

thebloodfiend · Jun 21, 2013

If I wasn't afraid of bees, and pretty much all insects and bugs, I'd take a beekeeping course. I love honey. And flowers. And of course, you know, saving the environment.

But they're just so damn scary.

Vince524 · Jun 21, 2013

thebloodfiend said:
If I wasn't afraid of bees, and pretty much all insects and bugs, I'd take a beekeeping course. I love honey. And flowers. And of course, you know, saving the environment.

But they're just so damn scary.

Ditto.

When I was 12, (Many, many moons ago) I went to summer camp. We had some guy come in to show us different animals. One was a giant snake. They asked for a volunteer to hold the snake while they fed it a mouse. I was the first and only person with my hand in the air.

twenty minutes later, we went back to the cabin. I went to my bunk and there was a bee on my pillow. I screamed like a little girl.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

ETA: but that's beside the point. This is bad news. Hope something can be done about the bees. Just keep 'em the hell away from me.

AncientEagle · Jun 21, 2013

Vince524 said:
Ditto.

When I was 12, (Many, many moons ago) I went to summer camp. We had some guy come in to show us different animals. One was a giant snake. They asked for a volunteer to hold the snake while they fed it a mouse. I was the first and only person with my hand in the air.

twenty minutes later, we went back to the cabin. I went to my bunk and there was a bee on my pillow. I screamed like a little girl.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

ETA: but that's beside the point. This is bad news. Hope something can be done about the bees. Just keep 'em the hell away from me.

Hey, Vince, you better be careful making sexist statements like the bolded one above. (Since you might not have considered this, just thought I'd put a bee in your bonnet.)

Vince524 · Jun 21, 2013

AncientEagle said:
Hey, Vince, you better be careful making sexist statements like the bolded one above. (Since you might not have considered this, just thought I'd put a bee in your bonnet.)

That was just mean.

AncientEagle · Jun 21, 2013

Vince524 said:
That was just mean.

I thought my comment would probably sting you a little. And that you would tell me to just buzz off. But don't worry. Enough of this. I'll let you bee.

Chasing the Horizon · Jun 21, 2013

There's certainly no lack of bumblebees around here. I had one land in my hair the other day. (Just because it's bright purple does NOT mean it's a flower!)

muravyets · Jun 21, 2013

Okay, bitterness time. Here's my take on it: We'll keep killing bees and other pollinators and destroying our environment and otherwise just consuming as stupidly as we possibly can and fouling everything around us with our waste until... we all die from human stupidity. And then it'll be the planet's turn to say "oopsie" and carry on with its life.

Zoombie · Jun 21, 2013

muravyets said:
Okay, bitterness time. Here's my take on it: We'll keep killing bees and other pollinators and destroying our environment and otherwise just consuming as stupidly as we possibly can and fouling everything around us with our waste until... we all die from human stupidity. And then it'll be the planet's turn to say "oopsie" and carry on with its life.

Mura, there's nothing humanity can't do if we put our minds to it, excepting of course making a Star Trek movie that's better than Wrath of Khan.

If you ask me, we're right now at a really...uh...interesting (meant in the "Chinese Curse" sort of way) tipping point when it comes to our entire technological base. If we can handle ourselves intelligently, then we can accomplish wonders.

And I think getting people to hear about this kind of thing, and how to prevent it, and how to try and fix it (for example, popularizing beekeeping!) then we can really make a more positive impact.

And if we fuck up, we die horrible, agonizing deaths.

But, hey, accepting the possibility of hope is better than writing off the future of humanity before we really get to the cool stuff like interstellar travel and super-intelligent space dolphins!

GeorgeK · Jun 21, 2013

Bees are nice people

Being partly phobic and rationally averse to things that can kill me. I travel with an Epi pen. Bees just want to be left alone. They don't like the sound of lawnmowers. On my farm where sheep mow the lawn bees fly around and if they bump into you they back up, say, sorry, and fly away.

little_e · Jun 22, 2013

I live next to my neighborhood's little water drainage area. We're the only house that borders it, and you can't even see it unless you're down at our end of the dead-end street (though it does border a little park.)
It was filled with weeds, daisies, dandelions, thistles, and most tastily, blackberries. They grow rampant around here, and are in bloom this time of year. I've been eagerly awaiting blackberry season for months--fresh blackberries, every day.

We're not the only folks who eat them--some neighbors make pies--but we're probably the most enthusiastic. In a month, flowers => blackberries.

Today, the head of the newly created HOA had the whole area mowed down. My bushes are stumps.
It looks terrible, too. The area now needs raking, because it's full of chopped up bits of plants.

I even put up signs by the biggest bush asking people to not cut it, and went out to talk to the guys when I saw them whacking the bushes, anyway. No one cared. The HOA guy had taken my signs and the gardeners did what he'd told them to do. (I did get my signs back after asking for them.) The bushes weren't hurting him; we're the only folks who even overlook them! But oh, the field was messy, the HOA had to do something!

Now, just think of the poor pollinators who depended on those flowers.

GeorgeK · Jun 22, 2013

little_e said:
I live next to my neighborhood's little water drainage area. We're the only house that borders it, and you can't even see it unless you're down at our end of the dead-end street (though it does border a little park.)
It was filled with weeds, daisies, dandelions, thistles, and most tastily, blackberries. They grow rampant around here, and are in bloom this time of year. I've been eagerly awaiting blackberry season for months--fresh blackberries, every day. We're not the only folks who eat them--some neighbors make pies--but we're probably the most enthusiastic. In a month, flowers => blackberries.

Today, the head of the newly created HOA had the whole area mowed down. My bushes are stumps.
It looks terrible, too. The area now needs raking, because it's full of chopped up bits of plants.

I even put up signs by the biggest bush asking people to not cut it, and went out to talk to the guys when I saw them whacking the bushes, anyway. No one cared. The HOA guy had taken my signs and the gardeners did what he'd told them to do. (I did get my signs back after asking for them.) The bushes weren't hurting him; we're the only folks who even overlook them! But oh, the field was messy, the HOA had to do something!

Now, just think of the poor pollinators who depended on those flowers.

Sad, poor bees, poor blackberries

Chasing the Horizon · Jun 22, 2013

little_e said:
I live next to my neighborhood's little water drainage area. We're the only house that borders it, and you can't even see it unless you're down at our end of the dead-end street (though it does border a little park.)
It was filled with weeds, daisies, dandelions, thistles, and most tastily, blackberries. They grow rampant around here, and are in bloom this time of year. I've been eagerly awaiting blackberry season for months--fresh blackberries, every day. We're not the only folks who eat them--some neighbors make pies--but we're probably the most enthusiastic. In a month, flowers => blackberries.

Today, the head of the newly created HOA had the whole area mowed down. My bushes are stumps.
It looks terrible, too. The area now needs raking, because it's full of chopped up bits of plants.

I even put up signs by the biggest bush asking people to not cut it, and went out to talk to the guys when I saw them whacking the bushes, anyway. No one cared. The HOA guy had taken my signs and the gardeners did what he'd told them to do. (I did get my signs back after asking for them.) The bushes weren't hurting him; we're the only folks who even overlook them! But oh, the field was messy, the HOA had to do something!

Now, just think of the poor pollinators who depended on those flowers.

Wow, that's terrible. If my apartment complex ever tried something like that, I'd be morally obligated to sit in the middle of the blackberry patch and bodily block them in proper radical liberal fashion.

sulong · Jun 22, 2013

little_e said:
(snip) and most tastily, blackberries. They grow rampant around here, and are in bloom this time of year. I've been eagerly awaiting blackberry season for months--fresh blackberries, every day. We're not the only folks who eat them--some neighbors make pies--but we're probably the most enthusiastic. In a month, flowers => blackberries.
(snip again)
Today, the head of the newly created HOA had the whole area mowed down. My bushes are stumps.
It looks terrible, too.

Now, just think of the poor pollinators who depended on those flowers.

Has the HOA sprayed the black berry stumps?
One thing about black berries is that it is very hard to kill them. They'll grow back.

With the area mowed down and some what cleared, you and your neighborhood posse have an opportunity.

If you wanted to, you could get out there while things are cleared and put up some trellis for the black berries. Spend a little time each year on manicuring the bushes to get them ready for harvest season.

Easy pickin's and will look nice.

Just a thought.

CQuinlan · Jun 22, 2013

little_e said:
I live next to my neighborhood's little water drainage area. We're the only house that borders it, and you can't even see it unless you're down at our end of the dead-end street (though it does border a little park.)
It was filled with weeds, daisies, dandelions, thistles, and most tastily, blackberries. They grow rampant around here, and are in bloom this time of year. I've been eagerly awaiting blackberry season for months--fresh blackberries, every day. We're not the only folks who eat them--some neighbors make pies--but we're probably the most enthusiastic. In a month, flowers => blackberries.

Today, the head of the newly created HOA had the whole area mowed down. My bushes are stumps.
It looks terrible, too. The area now needs raking, because it's full of chopped up bits of plants.

I even put up signs by the biggest bush asking people to not cut it, and went out to talk to the guys when I saw them whacking the bushes, anyway. No one cared. The HOA guy had taken my signs and the gardeners did what he'd told them to do. (I did get my signs back after asking for them.) The bushes weren't hurting him; we're the only folks who even overlook them! But oh, the field was messy, the HOA had to do something!

Now, just think of the poor pollinators who depended on those flowers.

Something similar happened at the end of the road I live in. We used to love picking blackberries and making jam.

I don't know why it was done, it was an orderly hedgerow (which are also disappearing) and then they placed it with a wall. I suspect Ribienna with their lying-about-vitiams-selling-and-buying-blackberries didn't want people to just have them for free.

regdog · Jun 22, 2013

I have a honey bee hive in the back wall of my garage. So I don't use the garage anymore.

Don · Jun 22, 2013

regdog said:
I have a honey bee hive in the back wall of my garage. So I don't use the garage anymore.

I knew a beekeeper when I was young, and he would occasionally get a chance to relocate a hive to his farm. IIRC, he put new hives nearby, moved the queen to the new hive, and eventually drove off with the lot. You might want to check with beekeepers in your area if you'd like your garage back and a safe home for your bee colony.

muravyets · Jun 22, 2013

Zoombie said:
Mura, there's nothing humanity can't do if we put our minds to it, excepting of course making a Star Trek movie that's better than Wrath of Khan.

If you ask me, we're right now at a really...uh...interesting (meant in the "Chinese Curse" sort of way) tipping point when it comes to our entire technological base. If we can handle ourselves intelligently, then we can accomplish wonders.

And I think getting people to hear about this kind of thing, and how to prevent it, and how to try and fix it (for example, popularizing beekeeping!) then we can really make a more positive impact.

And if we fuck up, we die horrible, agonizing deaths.

But, hey, accepting the possibility of hope is better than writing off the future of humanity before we really get to the cool stuff like interstellar travel and super-intelligent space dolphins!

Who says I'm lacking in hope? I am filled with hope -- nay, even optimism, because I know that there is nothing before us but good outcomes. We can look forward to a just future in which we get exactly what we deserve and reap exactly what we sow, thus enjoying the fruits of our labors. Who doesn't want that? And no matter what we do -- whether we improve ourselves or kill ourselves -- this planet will be better off for it.

ETA: I have nothing but hope for the future. It's the present that angers and disgusts me.

25,000 wild bees poisoned in Oregon - oops

Always curious.

'Twas but a dream of thee

Slate grey mole person

Heckuva good sport

New kid...seven years ago!

Petulantly Penitent

Dragon of the Multiverse

Alex

Cory

Are you gonna finish that bacon?

Old kid, no need to be gentle.

Are you gonna finish that bacon?

Old kid, no need to be gentle.

Blowing in the Wind

Old revolutionary

Dragon of the Multiverse

ever seeking

Trust: that most precious coin.

ever seeking

Blowing in the Wind

It's a matter of what is.

The Scavengers

All Living is Local

Old revolutionary