Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: native plants

• Animal Products: honey

• Animals: bees

• Community and Urban Pest Management: commercial

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Fruits: apples, berries (blueberries), berries (cranberries), cherries

• Natural Areas: wildlife

• Nuts: almonds

• Pollinators: habitat, honey bees, other

• Vegetables: cucurbits

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: disease vectors, monitoring/scouting, pesticide application timing, pesticides, precision pesticide use, prevention

• Crop Production: beekeeping/honey, pollination/pollinator health/habitat

• Natural Resources/Environment: wildlife

• Sustainable Communities: public participation, public policy

Appreciation and concern for pollinators are in the public consciousness, but progress in improving pollinator health has been limited. In response to concerns about pollinator health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided guidance for states and tribes to develop managed pollinator protection plans. The plans were designed to foster local strategies to promote pollinator health through communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Most plans seek to identify and implement strategies to reduce managed pollinator exposure to pesticides through integrated pest management (IPM) and best practice recommendations.

Progress made toward achieving steps in pollinator protection plans has faced challenges and has varied by state and tribe. A primary obstacle to progressing on these plans was a lack of national-level collaboration, resulting in each state or tribe working independently. To address this obstacle, the Managed Pollinator Protection Working Group was established in March 2020 with funding received from the North Central IPM Center. This working group has addressed the pollinator health crisis by facilitating a coordinated effort for professionals working on managed pollinator protection to learn from each other, share resources, and eliminate redundant efforts.

The working group is energized to continue work around pollinator protection from pesticides. The group also believes it is critical to focus collaborative efforts on Tropilaelaps spp. mites, which are a growing threat to honey bees as they have been reported in several countries. These mites can parasitize various species of honey bees, including Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee that is managed in the United States. The mites harm honey bees by feeding on brood, which can lead to shorter bee lifespans, and vectoring viruses. Tropilaelaps mites are not currently known to be in North America, but many honey bee researchers, educators, and regulators believe it is imperative to prepare for the mite in case it is detected on the continent.

The working group has had many accomplishments, including recruiting new members, maintaining monthly online meetings, creating a nationally appropriate presentation and online courses about pollinator protection for pesticide applicators, producing a clearing house of shared resources, writing online articles, and presenting our work at multiple conferences to our colleagues and stakeholders. We plan to build on our previous accomplishments to achieve the following objectives:

1. Coordinate online meetings for the working group to collaborate.
2. Promote the working group's educational materials on pollinator protection.
3. Develop a crisis communication plan using the potential introduction of Tropilealaps mites as a model.
4. Learn to deliver trainings on Tropilaelaps mite response.

By providing information about pollinator integrated pest management to pesticide users and other stakeholders, we expect to increase the understanding of topics related to managed pollinator protection and IPM. Receiving trainings on Tropilaelaps mites and developing a crisis communication plan will prepare working group members to provide clear and accurate information as stakeholder concern increases. Overall, we expect our project to lead to a greater adoption of IPM strategies, a reduction in pesticide use, increased monitoring in honey bee colonies for emerging pests, and an overall improvement in managed pollinator health.

1. Coordinate online meetings for the working group to collaborate.
2. Promote the working group's educational materials on pollinator protection.
3. Develop a crisis communication plan using the potential introduction of Tropilealaps mites as a model.
4. Learn to deliver trainings on Tropilaelaps mite response.