The buzz about bees

Business is booming for local beekeepers, but the prognosis isn’t so hot for the bees. Some populations have declined by 70 percent.

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Aug 26, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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“My wife says we put too much love into this work not to have the best,” he added.

“I’m a farmer, and [keeping bees] gives me something to look forward to tomorrow. I’m 72 and I’m already planning what to do next year that is different.

“You can never learn everything about beekeeping — it is just fascinating and a challenge,” Barlean said.

People can buy Barlean’s honey at Alice’s Country Market in Damascus and at People’s Food Cooperative in SE Portland, but 90 percent of his honey business is conducted in front of his house, Barlean said.

“We open up at 5 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., and cars are coming and going all day,” he noted.

Barlean added, “Once they taste it, I got ‘em. They are my customers.”

Are bees endangered?

Beekeeper Jim Barlean lost more than 50 percent of his bees in over 130 hives last winter.

“It is sickening to see 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 bees dead,” he said. “A 10 percent loss is normal — sometimes a queen dies and sometimes I don’t know why they died.”

Barlean attributes the upsurge in bee deaths to Colony Collapse Disorder, which he believes is tied to the use of insecticides. “We also never had much of [a problem with the disorder] until we imported bees from Australia,” he said.

People who live in

neighborhoods don’t need to use chemicals to enhance their gardens and flowerbeds, Barlean said, adding that it is “super important” that people realize how deadly pesticides and insecticides can be to honeybees.

The loss of honeybees could be an agricultural disaster, he said, adding that “billions of dollars worth of agriculture is derived from the presence of bees.”

Consumers would not be eating “fruits and berries” and would not be wearing cotton garments if bees disappeared, Barlean explained.

He also wants to encourage people to contact him or another beekeeper if they see a swarm of bees. Do not spray swarms with water, or use any insecticide or pesticide, he urged, because surviving bees will take the poison back to a hive, and all the bees there will die.

The year before last Barlean recovered 97 swarms, last year 86 and this year only 62 swarms, he said.

To learn more about Colony Collapse Disorder, visit the Natural Resources Defense Council Web site at http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees. Call Barlean at 503-659-9718.

“BEE” safe

The Natural Resources Defense Council offers these tips on how you can “Bee Safe”:

• Bee Native: Use local and native plants in your yard and garden. These plants thrive easily and are well suited for local bee populations, providing pollen and nectar for bees to eat.

• Bee Diverse: Plant lots of different kinds of plants in your yard. Plant diversity ensures that your garden attracts many different varieties of bees and gives them a range of flowering plants to choose from throughout the year.

• Bee Pesticide Wary: There are many natural methods to control pests in your garden. Researchers believe pesticides are a contributing factor to Colony Collapse Disorder. Moreover, some insecticides are harmful to bees and wipe out flowers that provide bees with food. If you must, use targeted pesticides and spray at night, when bees aren’t active.

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