VITAL TO LIFE: WV LOST 75% OF BEE POPULATION LAST WINTER - Arnoldsburg School Beekeeping Workshop May 21

(05/21/2018)
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

By Bob Weaver

West Virginia lost 75% of their honeybees this winter.

The USA has been facing large destruction of bees during the past several years, bees being the driving force for cross-pollination for growing food.

The US honeybee population has been in major decline, sometimes referred to a "Beemageddon," with bees dying, putting honey production and $15 billion worth of pollinated food crops in jeopardy.

Thanks to US beekeepers and the local West Central Beekeepers Association it has been slowed down with the establishment of honeybee colonies.

West Central Beekeepers Association president Dale Cunningham says the local group has establish hundreds of colonies in the region.

Mostly blamed is the most widely used class of insecticides in the world called neonicotinoids, or neonics, thee bug killers have long been used to treat millions of acres of farmland in the US.

Bee pollination is essential to sustain human life, with the EPA unable to make a decision regarding what pesticides to use.

A Bee Keeping Workshop is set for Calhoun on Monday, May 21 at 4 p.m. at the Arnoldsburg Elementary School, according to Tracey Keaton, AES Community Facilitator.

The Beginner Workshop for beekeeping will be led by Dale Cunningham from the WV Beekeepers Association.

The school has purchased two bee boxes to give away.

Please call the school at 304-655-8616 to register for the class and have your name entered in the bee box giveaway.