������Ƶ

It is no secret that bee populations are in decline. Between Colony Collapse Disorder, Varroa mites, overuse of chemicals, and monocultures, bees are facing an array of issues that threaten our food supply and overall global diversity.

The White House released a Pollinator Action Plan last year which outlines the roles of various government agencies in working toward a more sustainable pollination system. This was an important step that increased national attention to one of the world’s biggest environmental threats. Unfortunately, not much “action” has happened since the release of the document.

We have the impression that bee decline is multi-faceted and the solution must be as complex as the problem. While rural agriculture poses some limitations, urban areas are in a unique position to become a safe haven for bees. And not just any bees, native bees.

When most people hear the word “bee,” they imagine a honey bee in a hive. In fact, honey bees are only one out of more than 4,000 species in the United States alone. Native bees come in a variety of colors and sizes, from large and gray to small and green. Some are even metallic purple, a color usually found only on Lisa Frank folders.

Their uniqueness goes far beyond their appearance. Michael Warriner, Texas Park and Wildlife invertebrate biologist, notes that “In some cases, just over 200 native bees can do the same level of pollination as a hive of honey bees containing over 10,000 workers.” Native bees are more efficient pollinators than honey bees, too, operating at roughly a 91 percent efficiency versus 72 percent for honey bees.

Honey bees are not interested in pollen, but rather the nectar for their hives. They will bypass pollen if possible, making them less efficient.

Having a hive makes honey bees portable and their services quantifiable. Apiarists can charge a flat rate per hive and know how much area it can pollinate. With gross revenue from honey bee pollination services in 2012 estimated at $655.6 million, there are big hurdles in the push for native bee use.

Without bees, blueberries, tomatoes, avocados and many other vital nutritious foods would not exist.

Honey bees are useful for crops in bloom before most native bees are active, like almonds, but over half of honey bee pollination services are spent on other crops that can use native bees.

Native bees have basic needs that mirror those of humans: year-round diverse food, water, appropriate nesting and refuge areas. While parks and other green spaces boast about being pollinator friendly, without proper distribution of habitat areas across cities, we are creating potential population sinks.

Some native bees can only fly three blocks before they need additional food, and most parks have large distances between them. The problem is not, “If you build it, will they come,” but rather, “If you build it, can they leave?”

Fortunately, pollinators do not need continuous habitat and deal with limited fragmentation well. By simply changing the plants used in parking lots and other transportation corridors, most cities can create “stepping stone” habitats between large green spaces and save the majority of local native bee and other pollinator species.

Most urban areas have at least 10 percent of land use dedicated to surface parking lots. Houston has the highest rate at about 18 percent. Cities often require plants around edges of parking lots for screening, but most allowable parking lot plant lists do not contain plants which benefit pollinators in any way, including in Houston. Cities and rural areas alike have forgone diversity in the landscape for ease of permitting and maintenance, mass plant production techniques, and over-manicured aesthetics. Instead of monoculture hedgerows, use diverse plants that bloom year-round and native bee populations will thrive.

Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, was quoted in Landscape Architecture Magazine in June 2014, saying, “She’s onto something. In any city there are small places, weedy edges, that native bees already use.” James Cane, an entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, was also quoted in the same article, saying, “You can recolonize the city with the native bees from the outskirts. The ones that were there before there was a Houston, and before there were honey bees.”

Without bees, blueberries, tomatoes, avocados and many other vital nutritious foods would not exist. People are concerned with the affordability of guacamole at Chipotle, but what if guacamole was not even an option?

Instead of paying to truck honey bees across the nation while feeding inadequate pollen and sugar substitutes, money used towards pollination services could be put back into other economic sectors. By simply changing regulations and mindsets to support diversity instead of monocultures, officials and homeowners alike can save our landscapes … and our dinner plates.