![]() National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski explained, “More than 90 percent of our nearly 4,000 native bee species live not with other bees in hives but alone in nests carved into the soil, wood, or hollow plant stems. According to the National Wildlife Federation, most people know little to nothing about wild bees. But who is installing hives or providing winter protection for bumblebees? Who is dividing bumblebee colonies to help sustain their numbers?īumblebees, wild bees, and most other pollinators lack champions. And the IUCN North American Bumble Bee Specialist Group reports that more than 25 percent of North American bumble bees are facing some degree of extinction. Between 20, England lost 58 percent of its butterfly species on farmed land. Related: How to Be a Bee-Friendly Golf Course WILD BEES AND OTHER POLLINATORSĪll pollinators are at risk, not just the honey bee. The more people who practice backyard or golf course beekeeping the larger the overall bee population becomes and the better positioned it is to weather seasons of colony loss. Nevertheless, aggressively replacing bees in hives to keep bee populations stable does not represent a sustainable solution. By splitting robust colonies into two smaller colonies, buying more bees commercially, and capturing wild honey bee swarms, beekeepers are putting up a valiant fight to sustain honey bee populations. Despite alarming annual losses of one-third to nearly one-half of all honey bee colonies in the United States each year, the overall honey bee population has remained relatively stable over the past twenty years. Honey bees, along with other crucial pollinators, seem to be in a fight for their lives.īeekeepers are clearly taking this important battle very seriously. What all studies consistently reveal, however, is a disturbing pattern of population decline. studies of bee populations cite varying ranges of decline based on the species of bees included and the differences in other data variables and survey practices. ![]() Although the data collected is considered accurate, it cannot be considered complete. To put this most recent loss rate in perspective, the average annual percentage of colony loss over the previous ten years has been 39.4 percent.įor The Bee Informed Partnership study, participation by beekeepers is voluntary. Only the 2013-2014 survey reported a greater percentage of colony loss. Notably, some golf courses, including The Sanctuary Golf Club, in Sanibel, Florida, maintain close to a million bees, and at some facilities, the production of honey is sufficient to yield a valued additional revenue stream.ĭuring the surveyed period, the participating beekeepers estimated their combined loss of managed honey bee colonies to be 45.5 percent. ![]() Most beekeeping facilities in the golf industry fall into the category of “backyard beekeepers,” based on having fewer than 50 colonies residing in 50 hives. The survey looked at both winter and summer losses state by state and included data from backyard beekeepers with fewer than 50 colonies, sideline beekeepers with 51 to 500 colonies, and commercial beekeepers with 501 colonies or more. Department of Agriculture, for 2020, this number is approximately seven percent of the nation’s estimated 2.71 million managed honey-producing colonies. In the most recent data available, for the one-year period from April 2020 to April 2021, the survey polled 3,347 beekeepers across the United StatesĬollectively, the three thousand plus beekeepers managed 192,384 bee colonies. ![]() Bees on golf courses HONEY BEES on the Golf Courseįor fifteen consecutive years, a nonprofit organization, The Bee Informed Partnership, has conducted a survey to monitor managed honey bee colony loss rates.
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