60 percent, or worse. In fact, this
In the meantime, there are
year David Reece, whose family has folks in the Reserve, like Jack Price,
been in the beekeeping business working to protect its pollinators.
Jack, a lifelong resident and
for over 140 years, lost 23 out of 25
hives in a single Ag Res orchard. owner of Habitat Enhancers, has
Considering that a beehive can been teaching property owners
house between 60,000 to 100,000 for years that small efforts—like
bees, it means the seasonal loss planting pockets of pollinator
was as great as 2,300,000, an habitat into their landscape—create
positive long-term results.
eye-popping number. The most
likely culprit for the damage is a For example, a native wildflower
dreaded varroa mite. Beekeepers landscape he installed in 2004, is
do have several tools in their mitefighting
toolbox, but none has populations ranging from bees to
currently showing growth in wild
been completely successful. There bears. Recently, unidentified butterflies
have even been discovered
is hope, though, with the introduction
into hives of a genetically bred in his plantings!
bee called the mite-biter. This bee Five years ago, Jack participated
in a national roundtable dis-
chews off the legs of mites as part
of its hygiene habit thereby disabling
them from clinging to a host pesticide companies, and environcussion
with farmers, beekeepers,
bee. Time will tell if this methodology
can help save honeybee population. He walked away conmentalists
about the declining bee
populations.
vinced that efforts to help solve
Jack Price of Habitat Enhancers plants gardens that attract pollinators.
Photo: Jack Price
the problem don’t have to be earth
shattering. Growing milkweed by
roadsides instead of turf, allowing
dandelions to thrive naturally,
allowing fencerows to remain wild,
retaining underbrush and deadwood
for habitat, and not mowing
tall grasses, will positively impact
the environment without creating
a huge or costly upheaval.
Jack stresses that people living
in the Ag Res must be sensitive to
the needs of its farmers. By knowing
that one’s choice of landscaping
products affects farmers’ hives
down the road, or that residential
nighttime lights impair the work of
nocturnal pollinators, homeowners
can take consistent, small, conscious
actions and be part of the
solution, not the problem. And after
decades in the trenches on the
topic, Jack discovered that the best
evidence of a thriving environment
is not a perfectly manicured
lawn, but rather a riot of diverse
flora, and the occasional dead tree,
teaming with life.
Other advocates attack pollinator
threats through education.
Joe Long of HoneyFX Apiaries and
Greenhouse Effects Landscaping
(made famous by his honey battle
with the “Poolesville Bear”) and
Poolesville High School Global
Magnet physics teacher Dan Savino
work with grants awarded by the
Sugarloaf Citizens Association and
the Piedmont Environmental Education
Foundation to teach children
at Linden Farm about caring for
honeybees with apiaries and native
wild bees with natural plantings.
Also on the frontline are local
farmers who seek an ecological
middle ground between crops
and the environment. Subscribing
to the ethical business model of
24 plenty I Summer growing 2020