Event highlights Colorado’s full of pollinators – but they need our help

With samples of lavender and honey ice cream in hand, 85 people turned out to our event at the Governor’s Mansion in Denver about pollinators and pesticides. 

The pollinator-dependent flavors of lavender and honey underscored the important role bees and butterflies play in pollinating much of the food we eat and the flowers we see across Colorado’s landscapes. 

About 1 in 3 bites of food depend on pollinators. And at the event, experts from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) underscored that we have a lot of them – over 1,000, which makes Colorado one of the most bee diverse states in the country.

Unfortunately, the CPW experts also highlighted the latest details around pollinator decline. Scientists are petitioning for about 20% of Colorado’s 24 native bumblebee species alone to receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act due to a significant decline in their populations

One major reason for the decline – pesticides like neonics, which are highly toxic to pollinators and other beneficial insects. Other challenges include climate change, habitat loss and disease. 

Colorado has taken steps to limit the sale of neonics – we’re one of 12 states to take that action. But too often neonics come already coated on the seeds. 

Experts at the event highlighted that this practice of coating seeds with pesticides is particularly problematic because it’s used before there is even a problem. That results in:

1. Unnecessarily killing off lots of helpful pollinators and contaminating our water and soils
2. Pests developing resistance, making the pesticides ineffective in the long run.

At the event during June’s Colorado Pollinator Month, we presented First Gentleman Marlon Reis with bee-friendly garden signs to be staked in the mansion’s yard. During his keynote talk he emphasized the critical role pollinators play in our food supply and ecosystems. He stressed the importance of protecting these species, noting that pesticides used in agriculture are unfortunately harming them.

We want to say thanks to event’s additional speakers including Adrian Carper, Entomologist from CU Boulder; Hayley Schroeder, PhD, Invertebrate and Rare Plant Program Supervisor at Colorado Parks and Wildlife; Dr. George Grant, GGSPro Technical Services Manager at Griffin Greenhouse Supplies; and Beth Conrey, Owner and operator of Bee Squared Apiaries. Their collective expertise made for an insightful and engaging program. We also want to thank cosponsors for the event including the People and Pollinators Action Network, CoPIRG and the National Resource Defense Council.

If you want to help protect pollinators, we have kits so you can create your own bee-friendly gardens and contribute directly to local conservation efforts.

You can also sign our petition calling for the end of neonics covered seeds.