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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>June 18, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'>For Immediate release<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Contact: Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, 503-449-3792, <a href="mailto:sblack@xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>For photos of the bees visit </span><a href="http://www.xerces.org/2013/06/18/mystery-bee-kill-causes-being-sought/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.xerces.org/2013/06/18/mystery-bee-kill-causes-being-sought/</span></a><span style='color:#333333;background:white'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mystery Bee Kill: Causes Being Sought</span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wilsonville OR:</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> Tens of thousands of bumble bees and other pollinators were found dead under trees at the Target store in Wilsonville on Monday, June 17<sup>th</sup>. The discovery was a strange and ironic start to National Pollinator Week, a symbolic annual event intended to raise public awareness about the plight of bees. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The massive bee kill was first documented on Monday by Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Portland-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Several shoppers at the store called him to report that there were dead and dying bees all over the parking lot. Specifically, the bees were clustered under dozens of <span style='color:#333333;background:white'>European linden trees. The Xerces Society is internationally known for their work on bee conservation.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“<span style='color:#333333;background:white'>After several calls at the office I visited the Target store in Wilsonville and found a parking lot full of dead bumble bees underneath blooming European linden trees,” said Rich Hatfield. “They were literally falling out of the trees. To our knowledge this is one of the largest documented bumble bee deaths in the Western U.S. It was heartbreaking to watch.”</span></span><span style='color:#333333;background:white'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>The cause of the bee deaths in unknown but there are two possibilities: acute pesticide poisoning, or a poisonous species of European linden tree. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>The Xerces Society contacted the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) who responded by sending staff to collect samples of the bees and foliage from the trees. According to staff at the ODA, they will be working to determine whether pesticides were used at the site. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>“We are very happy with the quick action by ODA to get to the site and collect bees for testing,” said Mace Vaughan, Pollinator Conservation Program Director for the Xerces Society. “We are hopeful they will move quickly to determine the cause of this catastrophe.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>Rich Hatfield estimated there were at least 25,000 dead bumble bees at the site, a number that likely represents the loss of more than 150 colonies. There were also dead honey bees, lady bird beetles and other beneficial insects. Bumble bees are especially important to agriculture in western Oregon, where they are considered vital pollinators of many berry crops and Willamette Valley seed crops.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>“If the trees are indeed toxic they should be cut down and replaced by something that will provide non-toxic pollen and nectar for bees,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director at the Xerces Society. “On the other hand, if pesticides are the cause, we need to spotlight this as a real-world lesson in the harm these toxic chemicals are causing to beneficial insects. It would be especially alarming to find out whether pesticides are the cause in this case because the linden trees are not even an agricultural crop. Any spraying that happened would have been done for purely cosmetic reasons.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>###<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Xerces Society is a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Established in 1971, the Society is at the forefront of invertebrate protection worldwide, harnessing the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation programs. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Society uses advocacy, education, and applied research to defend invertebrates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Over the past three decades, we have protected endangered species and their habitats, produced ground-breaking publications on insect conservation, trained thousands of farmers and land managers to protect and manage habitat, and raised awareness about the invertebrates of forests, prairies, deserts, and oceans.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>_______<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Scott Hoffman Black<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Executive Director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chair<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tel: (503) 232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Toll free: 1-855-232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cell: (503) 449-3792<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Connect with Xerces:</span><br><b><span style='color:red'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/" target="_blank"><span style='color:red;text-decoration:none'>xerces.org</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#17365D'><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Xerces-Society/193182577358618" target="_blank"><span style='color:#17365D;text-decoration:none'>Facebook</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#984806'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/enewsletters/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#984806;text-decoration:none'>E-newsletter</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#0070C0'><a href="https://twitter.com/xerces_society" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'>Twitter</span></a></span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, please visit <a href="http://www.xerces.org/"><span style='color:blue'>www.xerces.org</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Buy our best-selling book:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/announcing-the-publication-of-attracting-native-pollinators/"><span style='color:blue'>Attracting Native Pollinators. Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies</span></a></span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>