Since 2018, individual states within the E.U. have granted emergency approval for limited application of one of the three insecticides in the neonicotinoid class. Restrictive legislation and policy is influenced by the reality that pollinators are critical to the production of a wide range of crops.

The concern over declining populations of pollinators in the U.S. has resulted in Oregon State University Extension Service initiating a project to gather data on insect populations. The results of structured surveys conducted over time will be used to generate and justify policy on land use and to optimize the balance between productivity and bee populations. 

Dr. Andony Melathopoulos, a pollinator specialist at OSU, noted, “We are working towards a more data-driven land-use policy that can conserves the state’s bees but ensures working lands remain productive.”  He added, “The key question is whether to designate a bee species as endangered.  We need to know where they are, how they are doing and what habitat they are in.  Without precise answers to these questions, species could be listed as endangered that are, in fact, neither threatened nor endangered and working lands could be subject to restrictions that might not help the species recover.”

The Oregon project involving volunteers is funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and specific information will be collected on the health and numbers of both native bee species and imported honeybees.