White House unveils new plan to save the bees

The White House on Tuesday unveiled a new plan aimed at stopping the rapid decline in bee and butterfly populations that has become a threat to the nation’s crops.

“Pollinators are struggling. Last year, beekeepers reported losing about 40% of honey bee colonies, threatening the viability of their livelihoods and the essential pollination services their bees provide to agriculture,” John Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in a blog post Tuesday morning.

{mosads}“Monarch butterflies, too, are in jeopardy. The number of overwintering Monarchs in Mexico’s forests has declined by 90% or more over the past two decades, placing the iconic annual North American Monarch migration at risk.”

The White House’s plan aims to reduce the death rate of honey bees while stimulating the growth of Monarchs by restoring 7 million acres of federal and private land for the insects to use as a habitat.

To save the bees, the White Houses said it will make sure that the government’s landscaping plans, methods of restoring forests after fires, and other land management actions keep the insects’ health in mind. Obama’s budget for the 2016 fiscal year asks for about $82.5 million for the effort, an increase of almost $34 million from last year’s budget.

Pollinators are responsible for $15 billion in agricultural value each year, according to the White House, and their disappearance has become a major concern for farmers.

“Unabated, these losses of our pollinators threaten agricultural production, the maintenance of natural plant communities, and the important services provided by those ecosystems, such as carbon cycling, flood and erosion control, and recreation,” the new National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators memo says.