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4B – Daily News – Tuesday, June 29, 2010 New congressional caucus focuses on plight of honeybees WASHINGT ON (MCT) — Lawmakers are rallying behind the beleaguered honeybee by creating a congres- sional caucus to promote research and focus atten- tion on the troubling col- lapse of bee colonies. The caucus comes as farmers, scientists and industry officials scram- ble for answers to the mystery behind the sig- nificant colony loss over the past four years. In some cases, beekeepers have lost 40 percent or more of their colonies, potentially endangering the pollination of many fruits, nuts and vegeta- bles. "We don't really even know what we have now so that we can assess whether it's in trouble," said Laurie Davies Adams, the executive director of the nonprofit Pollinator Partnership. "That takes real invest- ment. ... That's what we want with the caucus." The new Pollinator Protection Caucus cur- rently claims 11 mem- bers, including Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D- Calif., Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., and Henry Brown, R-S.C. The members of the caucus represent the states that have been the most acutely afflicted by colony loss. Cardoza chairs the House of Representa- tives Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, which has held two hearings on the bee problems. The new caucus is similar to dozens of other congressional cau- cuses that cover topics from wine and shellfish to minor league baseball and multiple sclerosis. Caucus members stay in touch, show their con- cern and co-sponsor leg- islation. One major focus for the pollinator caucus will be the next farm bill, to be completed in 2012. The last farm bill, completed in 2008, authorized $10 million annually until 2012 for GIBBS CAR SHOW July 31st @ Riverside Park Voted BEST in Tehama County ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09 &’10 AUTO BODY WE BILL ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES 780 EAST AVE. (behind Food Maxx) 527-2649 Since 1950 AUTO BODY GIBBS RANDAL ELLOWAY DDS, INC. Implants & Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry A wise choice for quality family dental care. 530 527-6777 2426 So. Main St., Red Bluff VISIT US @ www.drelloway.com pollinator research. Adams noted that it marked the first time the farm bill had used spe- cific language recogniz- ing pollinators in both research and conserva- tion provisions. Only $2.5 million to $3 million, however, was eventually appropriated, Adams said. The origi- nal amount authorized in the 2008 farm bill, if fully allocated, would be sufficient for new research projects, she said. Current research, including a four-year winter loss survey by Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an entomologist at Penn- sylvania State Universi- ty, and others indicates that honeybee colonies have diminished at the startling average rate of 33 percent each year since 2006. "It's the tip of the ice- berg," Adams said. "We need to have some base- line data that will help us understand our popula- tions as climate change happens, as habitat shifts." Additional research will be paramount to understanding the vari- ous factors that influ- ence colony loss, vanEn- gelsdorp said. The first year of his survey found that colony collapse dis- order, in which worker bees disappear from a hive, was the primary cause of honeybee Bees head back to one of the 50 hives owned by beekeeper Dan Kaminski he uses to produce and sell honey at his home on April 29, in Brimfield Township, Ohio. Help us Feed The Breakfast & Lunch Foods needed for local children who have lost breakfast and lunch at school. Get 40% off ALL COLORED STONE JEWELRY with your food donation. TheGold Exchange Respiratory Equipment Nebulizers In-Home Patient Education allows Lincare to provide the highest quality care to your patients. 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"Bees are being con- fronted with a whole bunch of different things that are killing them," vanEngelsdorp said in an interview. "The solution has to be a lot of differ- ent factors as well." The Haagen-Dazs ice cream company, a spon- sor of Pollinator Part- nership, lured activists and members of Con- gress to a briefing last week with vanilla swiss almond and raspberry sorbet treats. Since 2008, the company has donated $620,000 to Penn State and the Uni- versity of California at Davis for research, as more than 40 percent of its flavors use ingredi- ents pollinated by bees. Though Adams acknowledged that the caucus will have modest goals at the outset, it's her hope that lawmakers will move beyond the honeybee, learn about the other 4,000 species of bees that populate the U.S. and take action on behalf of the country's pollinators. "You should be afraid when you don't see a bee," she said. "We're hoping to inculcate all legislation with this con- sciousness." CARE TO COMMENT? 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