Bee habitat needed, not foreign competition

I was disappointed to read The Olympian’s recent front page article about having honeybee hives placed on the Capitol Campus. I am elated that the governor is aware of declines in our pollinator populations and is taking proactive steps to improve the situation.

Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are in steep declines across our country for a variety of reasons. Neonicotinoids and other pesticides, an accelerating loss of habitat and degraded plant communities are only three of many identified reasons.

This is why it is so excellent to see our state government take proactive steps to support our pollinators. My reaction is mixed because the primary gesture, placing honeybee hives on the Capitol Campus, hurts rather than helps our native pollinators. Honeybees are agricultural animals imported from Europe.

All bees compete for similar food resources: nectar and pollen. By bringing in 30,000 individual honeybees onto the Capitol Campus we make it that much harder for our native pollinators to be successful. The honey that honeybees collect is food taken away from our native bees and butterflies.

When I was in forestry school we had an axiom: Habitat is the key for wildlife. This is still true today.

If the governor wants to effectively support honeybees and our native pollinators, a great first step is to plant pollinator friendly gardens on our Capitol Campus: no pesticides and an array of plants that bloom across the entire season. Promoting foreign competitors isn’t the answer.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Bee habitat needed, not foreign competition."