Keeping Bees Safe in Boulder and Beyond

“We’re really in a place where if we don’t do it, no one will.” -David Wheeler, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Bee Safe Boulder.

For the past three years, Bee Safe Boulder has been working to create a more bee friendly habitat throughout Boulder County beginning with neighborhood initiatives that are now spreading city wide. Recently, the City of Boulder passed a resolution to not use neonicotinoids, which are found in many different pest controls and have been shown to be especially harmful to bees and other pollinators.

“First of all, we definitely want to keep creating Bee Safe Neighborhoods.”

David Wheeler of Bee Safe Boulder spoke with KGNU’s Maeve Conran about what’s in store for 2017. Wheeler discusses how the Bee Safe Boulder group will continue working with neighborhoods, developers, home owner’s association, and retailers to think about sustainable practices and products to protect the pollinators.

Wheeler also talks about a lawsuit that is currently being brought against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get them to be more stringent in their registration process of pesticides, and other agricultural chemicals, to make sure they are safe. This will be especially important as the Trump administration takes office with a new head of the EPA known for wanting to relax EPA protections.

With these larger challenges at hand, Bee Safe Boulder is trying to reach beyond the county lines. Bee Safe Earth, which will be a global online platform, will help educate the population and government about the dangers of pesticides and safer alternatives that can protect bees and other pollinators.