COMBING IT OVER
Beekeepers divided on invasive plant strategy
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » Disagreement over the fate of fastspreading invasive plants has sparked a not-so-sweet debate among honey producers, whose bees are a major contributor to New York’s agriculture industry.
Some beekeepers oppose efforts to eradicate invasive species such as Japanese knotweed and goldenrod, which they say give bees abundant late-summer sources of pollen.
But others contend the pervasive plants choke out valuable native plants, while wreaking economic and environmental havoc.
“Last year, when we had severe drought, I would have had no honey without these plants,” said Stephen O. Wilson of Altamont, Empire State Honey Producers Association’s 2016 Beekeeper of the Year.
The association recently adopted a resolution that calls for a ban on using insects that prey on invasive plants as a way of controlling this vegetation.
“Imagine if all these things were gone,” said Katherine Kiefer, an attorney and western New York beekeeper. “What would it be like for bees? Legislators need to know this.”
Kiefer spoke to more than 50 members of the Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association, gathered Monday at Saratoga County Cornell Cooperative Extension offices in Ballston Spa.
The goal, she said, is to have the state adopt formal rules prohibiting biological methods, such as insects, of controlling invasive plants. The reason is that bugs and beetles don’t know property lines and may kill knotweed in large areas, in addition to where they are introduced.
Kiefer likened it to a person installing a swimming pool that crossed onto their neighbor’s land. “It amounts to almost taking something that isn’t yours,” she said.
But beekeeper Amy Kelley, biology lab coordinator at Union College in Schenectady, said knotweed poses a major ecological threat by forcing out other types of vegetation. “As a biologist I’m concerned,” she said. “They block out lots of other native plants, which means bees have a single-species diet. You’re creating a very dangerous situation. If you have a collapse of that one species, you have starvation.”
Beekeeper Mary Jo Crance is a biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. She said it’s unfair for knotweed to go unchecked and spread onto other people’s property who don’t want it. Insects that prey invasive plants are one way of preventing this, she said.
Recently, Laurel Gailor, of Capital Mohawk PRISM (Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management), discussed problems caused by knotweed during a program at Skidmore College. The plant damages sidewalks, foundations and water lines, and causes streambank erosion that seriously impacts fishing, kayaking and related activities on waterways such as Kaydeross Creek, she said.
The plant is extremely difficult to get rid of. The three most common methods are uprooting, solarizing -- covering and “cooking” cut pieces -- and treating with chemicals.
From 1970 to 2015, the number of bee colonies in the U.S. declined almost in half from 5 million to 2.6 million.
Kiefer primarily blamed this on chemical pesticides and fungicides used in agriculture, parasites and loss of habitat caused by development. Given such considerations, invasive plants have an important role in keeping bee populations healthy, she said.
Other invasive plants believed beneficial to bees are spotted knapweed, purple loosestrife and sweet clover.
In 2016, the state DEC and Department of Agriculture and Markets led a taskforce that developed a statewide Pollinator Protection Plan. The 2016-17 state budget included $500,000 from the Environmental Protection Fund for pollinator protection initiatives.
Three research projects led by Cornell University have explored the impact of parasites, pathogens, pesticides, landscape and management practices on pollinator health.
The same funding amount was included in the 2017-18 budget to continue such research. State agencies are reducing their use of pesticides and herbicides that could be harmful to pollinators. In addition, they are planting and restoring pollinator habitats in key areas across the state, and increasing invasive species removal projects.
The Empire State Honey Producers Association wants to make sure removal doesn’t mean eradication, by using insects that could wipe out large areas of plants such as knotweed.
“This is a way to give us the courage to face the day, to push back,” Kiefer said.