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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(230, 120, 3);">Report
Highlights the Decline of Pollinators in Minnesota and Wisconsin</span></b></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;" align="center"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(230, 120, 3);">Regional farm
and conservation groups make recommendations to save the states' bees and
butterflies.</span></b></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">For Immediate
Release, January 18, 2011</span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Contact: </span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Eric Mader,
Assistant Pollinator Program Director, The Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation, (503) 232- 6639 or <a href="mailto:eric@xerces.org">eric@xerces.org</a> </span></b></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">ST. PAUL, Minn. - A new
report released this week calls attention to the ongoing plight of bees,
butterflies and other pollinators in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and
recommends conservation strategies for their protection.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Pollinator
Conservation in Minnesota and Wisconsin: A Regional Stakeholders Report</span></i><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">
highlights threats from habitat loss, pesticide use, and a lack of public
awareness that have combined to reduce numbers of honey bees, native
bumble bees, butterflies, and other pollinators across the
region. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">The report is an
outgrowth of a meeting held last August at the University of Wisconsin in
Eau Claire by regional bee and butterfly researchers, government
agencies, local farm organizations, and conservation groups like the
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which sponsored the event.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Among the specific issues
highlighted in the report are the large-scale declines of critical native
plants-such as milkweeds, the caterpillar host plants for monarch
butterflies-the increased use of new types of insecticides and the
disappearance of once very common species like the yellow-banded bumble
bee, which as recently as the mid-1990s was considered the most common
bumble bee in northern Wisconsin.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Along with the problems
identified by the report, the authors make specific recommendations to
help reverse additional declines and restore pollinator numbers. These
include greater monitoring of at-risk species by state agencies, better
training of licensed pesticide users and increased use of native
wildflowers by transportation agencies for restoring ditches after road
construction. These recommendations offer state and federal policymakers
a comprehensive blueprint to help shape conservation priorities.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Pollinators contribute an
estimated $20 billion a year to U.S. agriculture through the production
of numerous fruit, vegetable, livestock forage, and biofuel crops. In
Minnesota and Wisconsin these include cranberries, apples, blueberries,
pumpkins, canola and alfalfa.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Contributors to the
report include faculty researchers from the Universities of Wisconsin and
Minnesota and staff from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
and state departments of natural resources and agriculture, as well as representatives
of organizations like the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Association, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, and
the National Honey Bee Advisory Board.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Read the full report: <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=tnjebhdab&et=1104241687544&s=4347&e=001urobCO6Scit941HGi55N9ptJ1EXslxpmZpIW3i4wkfh_AFaWrw4Vn1uRBbsMOEivQgQasUJOdxDwbcuSpj6wd93Nu81JSKDm9Gy1IfW3QAnaEAJquNO8nqp-z0SWiuZyNxu7qTBMG5dhUE-GPRPdlc_9hWkrN3nBd38eKiV1qHRsspG8DOdH4lZ6Rm7KHtzFCwkpl8nMgXLWkeS2yVThIiWaN9Pd-qwsgagoq-tlmVU=" target="_blank" shape="rect"><i>Pollinator
Conservation in Minnesota and Wisconsin: A Regional Stakeholders Report</i></a> </span></p>
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