• Apply pesticides only when needed, using pest scouting (routine field checks for the presence/absence of pests) to minimize the need for application.

• Leave buffer zones between areas of pesticide application and sensitive species, sensitive habitats, water, and potential nectar sources.

• Use the least toxic pesticide recommended for control of the target pest at the lowest effective rate.

• Avoid applying pesticides while crops or wildflowers adjacent to or near fields are in bloom.

• If pesticides must be applied while crops are in bloom, apply in late afternoon or at night when pollinators are least likely to be working the blooms. However, note the "Caution" below.

• Always target pesticide applications to avoid contaminating water, habitat of rare species, and adjacent wildflowers.

• Reduce the amount of drift by using ground equipment instead of aerial spraying to apply pesticides. (Note: When pesticides are applied by aircraft, as much as 50% to 75% of the chemicals sprayed can miss their target (Pimentel et al., 1992 In Ingram 1996), leading to inadvertent exposure of non-target organisms such as pollinators (Ingram 1996).

• Avoid drift of pesticides onto plants that are attractive to bees by not spraying under windy conditions.
• Rinse pesticide tanks thoroughly between pesticide applications to avoid cross-contamination of pesticides.

• Use the pesticide formulation least hazardous to bees that will control the pest involved (See "Caution" below).

• Use liquid sprays or granules instead of dusts.
  

• Avoid use of microencapsulated pesticides, as they are similar in size to pollen, and may cause severe poisonings as has been documented with microencapsulated methyl parathion (Free et al., 1967 In Johansen, 1977 and Johansen and Eves, 1967 In Johansen, 1977).
  

• Notify beekeepers several days before applying any pesticide that is hazardous to honey bees.

• Develop and implement training programs to increase awareness and knowledge of pollinators and their activity patterns among pesticide applicators.
  
  
• Develop public outreach information to heighten awareness of the potential role that pesticides may play in the decline of pollinators.

CAUTIONS

• While timing application to avoid flowering periods or diurnal activity periods may reduce the impacts of pesticides to many pollinators, some pollinators, such as Normia bees that rest in crop fields overnight, may be harmed by nighttime application of pesticides (Natural Resource Council Canada, 1981 In Kearns et al., 1998). Similarly, moths that are active at night may be harmed by nighttime application of pesticides.

• Regardless of application time, if toxins remain on plant parts, pollinators such as leafcutter bees still may be harmed if they bring contaminated leaves back to their nest (Kearns et al., 1998). Likewise, the larvae of butterflies that pollinate plants may be harmed by ingesting toxins remaining on plant parts.

The University of Nebraska's Institute of Agricultural Resources: Protecting Bee Pollinators from Pesticides provides information on Steps Beekeepers Can Take to Protect Their Colonies, Relative Toxicities of Selected Insecticides and Miticides to Honey Bees, and Honey Bee Activity in Field Crops and Rangeland developed in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture.

Links:

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign - Pollinator Friendly Practices

Literature cited:

Florida Agricultural Information Retrieval System. 1999. Protecting Bees from Pesticides.

Free, J.B., P.H. Needham, P.A. Racey, J.H. Stevenson. 1967. The effect on honey bee mortality of applying insecticides as sprays or granules to flowering field beans. J. Sci. Food Agric. 18: 133-38.

Ingram, M., G.P. Nabhan, and S.L Buchmann. Our Forgotten Pollinators: Protecting the Birds and Bees. Global Pesticide Campaigner, Volume 6, Number 4, December 1996, PANNA, San Francisco, CA, http://www.pmac.net/birdbee.htm.

Ingram, M., G.P. Nabhan, and S.L. Buchmann (with assistance from the Board of Advisors of the Forgotten Pollinators). 1996a. Ten essential reasons to protect the birds and the bees. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tuscon, AZ, http://www.desertmuseum.org/conservation/fp/ten_reasons.html

Ingram, M. G.P. Nabhan, S. Buchmann. 1996b. Impending pollination crisis threatens biodiversity and agriculture. Tropinet 7:1.

Johansen, C.A. 1977. Pesticides and pollinators. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 22: 177-192.

Kearns, C.A., D.W. Inouye, and N.M. Waser. 1998. Endangered mutualisms: the conservation of plant-pollinator interactions. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 29: 83-112.

Natural Resource Council Canada. 1981. Pesticide-Pollinator Interactions. NRC Assoc. Comm. Sci. Criteria Environ. Qual. Publ. NRCC No. 18471. Ottawa, Canada: Natl. Res. Counc. Can. Environ. Secr.

Pimentel, D., H. Acquay, M. Biltonen, P. Rice, M. Silva, J. Nelson, V. Lipner, S. Giordano, A. Horowitz, and M. D'Amore. 1992. Environmental and economic cost of pesticide use. BioScience 42(10): 750-760.

Tew, J.E. Protecting Honey Bees from Pesticides. The Ohio State University, Horticulture and Crop Science, Factsheet HYG-2161-97. Wooster, OH.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998c. Environmental Fate and Effects Division's Reregistration Eligibility Decision Chapter for Methyl Parathion: Case 2345. October 1998. Washington, DC. 92 pp. http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/methyl_parathion.htm.

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