Pollinators

Photographer: Ellen Morris Bishop (#1) & Mary O'Brien (#2-4)

Note: The proposed management plan erroneously states in Description and Values for pollinator that honey bees are decreasing.  

Simultaneous declines in native and managed pollinator populations globally, with highly-visible decreases in honeybees, bumble bees, and monarch butterflies, have brought into focus the importance of pollinator conservation. 

 In fact, globally, there are more honey bees now than ever before. As a managed species in human-constructed hives, their populations are annually restored for use as an insect form of livestock. As noted in an article re: native bees entitled “ Honey bees are not in peril. Native bees are” 1 (

But the decline of bees, as most of the public understands it, was always about managed, nonnative honey bees, not wild bees. This distinction is important because European honey bees have a whole industry working to sustain them — to treat sick colonies — whereas wild bees don’t. 

Even at the height of the bee declines, there were still more than 2 million colonies in the US. Globally, meanwhile, honey bee colonies are now up more than 80 percent since the 1960s. 

“There are likely more honey bees on the planet now than there ever have been in history,” said Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit that advocates for pollinator conservation. “There’s not a conservation concern.”

 1 Jones, Benji. 2023.  Honey bees are not in peril. These bees are.  Vox Jan. 19.  https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2023/1/19/23552518/honey-bees-native-bees-decline

GOALS

Conservation Alternative Goals (FW--POLLINATOR-GL): 01-03

Proposed Management Plan Goals (Management Plan, Vol. 1) (FW--POLLINATOR-GL): 01

DESIRED CONDITIONS

Conservation Alternative Desired Conditions (FW-POLLINATOR-DC): 01-03

Proposed Management Plan Desired Conditions (Management Plan, Vol. 1) (FW-NPM DC): 01-02

OBJECTIVES

Conservation Alternative Objectives (FW-POLLINATOR-OB): 01-03

STANDARDS

Conservation Alternative Standards (FW-POLLINATOR-ST): 01

Proposed Management Plan (Management Plan, Vol. 1) Standards (FW-POLLINATOR-ST): 01-02

Standards (FW-POLLINATOR-ST) - Alternative D - 01

GUIDELINES

Conservation Alternative Guidelines (FW-NPM-GD): 01-05

Proposed Management Plan (Management Plan, Vol. 1) Guidelines (FW-NPM-GD):  01-04

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ABOUT THIS COMPARISON

All text in this chart is copied and pasted from the Conservation Alternative, the proposed Management Plan, and the DEIS except for any text in brackets and in italics font.

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