Get bee-killing pesticides out of our wildlife refuges
Bee-killing pesticides shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near our wildlife refuges — especially those our wild bees need to survive. But on August 2, 2018, the Trump administration decided otherwise.
The Threat to Bees
National wildlife refuges should be safe havens for wildlife — including wild bees. Yet on August 2, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted an Obama-era ban on bee-killing pesticides known as neonicotinoids or neonics.1
The pesticides are linked to a steep decline in bee populations. And, under the Trump administration policy, spraying will be allowed in some wildlife refuges where farming is also allowed.
Wild Bees in Decline
While the drop in honeybee populations has drawn the most scientific and public attention, wild native bees are also declining.2 Both raised and wild bees play a vital role in ecosystems, pollinating flowers, including those of many plants that provide our food.
How You Can Help
Using pesticides that kill off bees of any kind makes no sense — especially in the very places we’ve designated as refuges for wildlife.
Tell the USFWS: Keep Wildlife Refuges a refuge for bees, too!
1. Olivia Rosane, “Trump Admin Reverses Ban On ‘Bee-killing’ Pesticides In National Wildlife Refuges,” EcoWatch, August 6, 2018.
2. Tom Barnes, “Trump Administration Reverses Ban On Bee-harming Pesticides In Wildlife Refuges,” The Independent, August 5, 2018.