Farm406

farm406 30 Ben Montgomery, NRCS District Conservationist, Susan Gardner, and Heidi Fleury, Ronan, MT. There's little doubt that both domestic honey bees and their wild counterparts need help, says Stephanie King, a Resource Conservationist with NRCS in Bozeman. In the mid-1990s, honey bee colonies in the US and other countries began to experience dramatic, unexplained declines. "Beekeepers were losing 35 to 50 percent of their hives annually," King says. "Worker bees would leave the hive and simply never return." By 2006, the phenomenon had a name: Colony Collapse Disorder. While there has never been a single identified cause, several factors are likely involved, including mites, pesticides, and pathogens. "The newer pesticides are very hard on bees and other pollinators," King says. "Honeybees bring back pesticides to the hives, which can open the door to impacts from diseases or pests." Wild bee species and other native pollinators have also been affected, she says. In addition to the impacts of diseases and pesticides, pollinator declines have also been linked to habitat loss, including nectar sources and, particularly for wild bees, suitable nesting and wintering sites. In 2015, a federally- appointed task force on pollinator health called for restoring or creating seven million acres of pollinator habitat nationwide, through public / private partnerships and other government initiatives. During the first year of its pollinator initiative in Montana, NRCS entered into 40 contracts with landowners on about 1,600 acres in 16 counties. Funding problems hindered enrollment in 2017, but King says the issue of pollinator declines isn't going away any time soon, and natural resource agencies have vital roles to play. "It's really important that Montana, the NRCS and local conservation districts continue to work on this," she says. "We need to keep at it, keep the public interested in it." Landowners who have participated in the NRCS program "have come away amazed at what a difference they can make with just a small parcel of land," she says. In Western Montana, Lake County resident Susan Gardner grew up on a dairy farm in Lake County. She remembers flood irrigating crops with her father, delighted by the world of clover blossoms and buzzing bees, not to mention the taste of the honeycomb. Years later, a workshop hosted by the Xerces Society provided Susan with hard facts to complement her pastoral experiences with pollinators: their vital importance to food production, their habitat, their numbers and diversity, and especially the problems they face. A pollinator project, Gardner thought, would help. A member of the Lake County Conservation District, she started the process. Inspired and encouraged by the academic work done on pollinator Photo: Eliza Wiley

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