It will rain with a fearful hail of animals.Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)
Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles with dread at what must happen to the earth stained with crime.Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)The Oregon Department of Agriculture is investigating at least three Portland-area mass bee die-offs that appear to be linked to pesticides. Beekeepers in several locations have reported entire colonies dying suddenly. Estacada beekeeper Jon Beaty checked his hives Wednesday night. "I noticed that there were hundreds of bees lying on the ground in front of the hives dead, which was shocking to me," Beaty said. Sandy beekeeper Dena Rash Guzman noticed tens of thousands of dead bees in and around two of her eight hives on Wednesday. "I live in the middle of nowhere on a 60-acre sustainable farm," she said. "We've had beehives here for four years and never have had this happen." Guzman called expert Matt Reed, owner of Portland's Bee Thinking beekeeper supply store, who came out to take a look. "When a honeybee colony dies en masse like that, usually it is pesticides," Reed said. "A lot of them were dropping off the combs as I inspected them." Reed said he's seen a rash of similar reports on Portland-area beekeeping Facebook forums this week. Beaty and Guzman suspect aerial spraying of nearby nurseries and Christmas tree farms. An ODA pesticide investigator took samples at the hives this morning, ODA spokesman Bruce Pokarney said. The news comes a day after ODA investigated reports of hundreds of bees found dead at a Eugene apartment complex. ODA has confirmed that the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid had been sprayed on 17 flowering linden trees at the complex on Tuesday.
Neonicotinoids can harm bees if used improperly. It's the same situation that caused a highly publicized die-off of 50,000 bumblebees at a Wilsonville Target a year ago. That incident led to the formation of a legislative task force on pollinator health that will begin meeting this month. It also led Oregon to require that neonicotinoid pesticides imidacloprid and dinotefuran sold in the state be labeled with instructions prohibiting use on linden trees and other tilia species. By law, pesticide applicators must follow label instructions. It's possible that the applicator in the Eugene case - Glass Tree Care - was using a product with an old label on it, Pokarney said. The company has been cooperating with investigators, he said. "However, given all of the outreach and education we've done, we're pursuing whether there was a violation of the state pesticide law," Pokarney said. "We've given information to all of our pesticide licensees. We've made a great effort to talk about pollinator protection. They should have known better." Pollinators, including bumblebees and honeybees, are responsible for one out of three bites of food we eat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Both native and domesticated populations are declining in Oregon and nationwide. On Friday, President Obama issued a memorandum directing government agencies across the country to work to protect pollinators including bees, birds, bats and butterflies. Honey bee pollination alone is responsible for $15 billion in agriculture crops each year nationwide. "The problem is serious and requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems," the White House said in a statement. Obama also created a new federal Pollinator Health Task Force, which will study causes of the decline and ways to reverse it. RSOE EDIS
MARIA OF THE CROSS,
Victim of Jesus nee MELANIE CALVAT,
Shepherdess of La Salette
"I protest highly against a different text, which people may dare publish after my death. I protest once more against the very false statements of all those who dare say and write First that I embroidered the Secret; second, against those who state that the Queen Mother did not say to transmit the Secret to all her people." Melanie
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