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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='vertical-align:baseline'><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Advocates urge conferees to include bee-protection measures in farm bill<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Published: Wednesday, October 23, 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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Conservation groups and bee advocates are urging farm bill conferees to use the five-year bill to help strengthen federal protection over pollinator species that have experienced precipitous declines in recent years.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>More than 50 organizations today wrote to Senate members of the farm bill conference committee requesting that they retain pollinator protection language included in the House version of the bill. The provision would establish better coordination between federal agencies in dealing with pollinator health, create a task force on bee health, and increase monitoring and research of pollinator populations.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>"Maintaining healthy populations of honey bees and other pollinators is essential for the long-term success of American agriculture," the organizations wrote to the Senate conferees, who are led by Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and ranking member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Pollinators contribute between $20 billion and $30 billion a year to the nation's agricultural production by pollinating fruits and specialty crops like almonds, according to the advocates.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>But in recent years, pollinator populations have fallen dramatically. Managed honeybee colonies nationwide, for example, lost 31.1 percent of their populations last winter, according to an Agriculture Department-funded annual survey conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership and the Apiary Inspectors of America.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>In the case of honeybees, scientists call the syndrome "colony collapse disorder" and blame it on a variety of factors, including pesticides and habitat loss.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Under the House farm bill provision, federal agencies like the Agriculture Department and U.S. EPA would be required to increase their interagency cooperation and provide guidance on pollinator health issues. USDA would establish a task force focused solely on bee health and commercial beekeeping.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>The provision also calls for increased monitoring and reporting of the losses of a variety of managed and native pollinators, including bees, birds and bats. It also would require USDA to assess whether it should modernize a bee research lab and create a new one.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) offered the provision in the form of an amendment during the House farm bill debate. It passed this summer in a 273-149 vote. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) offered a nearly identical amendment during the Senate farm bill floor debate, but it never received a vote.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>The provision "would be a significant step towards ensuring the long-term viability of populations of honeybees," the conservation advocates said today.<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;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>The American Bird Conservancy, American Farmland Trust, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, National Farmers Union, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pesticide Action Network North America, Sierra Club and Xerces Society were among the groups signing the letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Farm bill conferees will hold a public meeting next Wednesday in the first step toward reconciling <a href="http://www.eenews.net/bills/113/House/110713120419.pdf"><b><span style='color:#990000'>H.R. 2642</span></b></a>and <a href="http://www.eenews.net/bills/113/Senate/160513133954.pdf"><b><span style='color:#990000'>S. 954</span></b></a>, the House and Senate versions of the bill (<a href="http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2013/10/23/stories/1059989291"><b><i><span style='color:#990000;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Greenwire</span></i></b></a>, Oct. 23<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>