> habitats if developed together can benefit both game birds and insects 
> Would it not be easier to work with already developed and highly respected
groups
> for game birds and other animals that have in roads to farmers already to
> develop a joint program?

We seek "cooperation", and we invariably end up being "co-opted".
Big difference.

The ducks and pheasants unlimited and the various eco-pressure groups all
are well-financed and very sophisticated at both fundraising and lobbying,
as they do nothing else BUT fundraising and lobbying.
Every time beekeepers "work with" other groups, even the (other)
"pollinator" groups, we find our message buried by their message, and we
find our potential influence muted.
We find our leadership (volunteers all, bless 'em) standing next to the
professional influence-peddlers, and thereby, seeming to endorse "solutions"
that do little or nothing for beekeepers.
The plight of beekeepers and their bees becomes nothing but a hood ornament
on an effort that does nothing for beekeepers or their bees, and only
advances the existing agenda of the groups who exploit us.

The "conservation" groups need to stick to their knitting, and we to ours.
All that has happened as a result of the "Honey Bee Crisis" has been that
the conservation groups have discovered that they can still take even more
money under the banner of conservation, and now, they can also divert USDA
money for their own agenda/purpose, which has essentially no significant
connection to agriculture.

Until someone can show these "alternative pollinators" reliably pollinating
the same crops that honey bees pollinate, the conservation groups can keep
their sticky fingers out of money that should be going to honey bee
RESEARCH.  Not set-asides to further enhance the bottom lines of corporate
farming concerns, not purely speculative work on "pollinators" that have
zero agricultural impact, not more "awareness raising", as "raising
awareness" is nothing but putting lipstick on the pig of fundraising.
"Raising awareness" about environmental issues is truly the last refuge of
scoundrels.  Children of 3 years old know that they have inherited a dying
planet.

We need to be wary of hunters, as they would love to somehow increase their
shrinking numbers and relevance by co-opting beekeepers.
At some point, the hobby of blasting God's creatures out of the sky at close
range is going to fall completely out of fashion and favor.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service says that less than 5 percent of us hunt
while 66 million of us are "wildlife watchers." 

Rather than hunt and kill with a gun or bow, most people in this country
would prefer to shoot with a camera or watch animals with binoculars.
Which group is more likely to support research funding to help the honeybee?

The "active waterfowlers in Minnesota", one of the biggest states for
waterfowl hunting, were 77,700 in 2012, and 52,200 for 2013.	
Duck hunter numbers are also down in Texas as of 2013 (down 38 percent),
Missouri (down 28 percent), Louisiana (down 25 percent) and Arkansas (down
22 percent).
That about wraps it up for places my heavily-armed friends go to channel
their inner Ernest Hemingway, even though most of them end up seeming to
channel Hunter S. Thompson.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service says that of 13.7 million hunters in 2011,
11.6 million hunted big game, 4.5 million hunted small game, 2.6 million
hunted migratory birds, and 2.2 million other animals.
"Big Game" includes  deer, bear, wild pig, elk, pronghorn antelope, and
bighorn sheep.
So, mostly deer gets hunted in the USA, and anyone who grows a kitchen
garden in a rural area would say "good riddance" as they stand inside their
12-foot high garden fences that the deer can still do a standing high jump
over with ease.

I warned about the "Xerces types" long ago, and it took years for the
"consensus" to realize just how the label "pollinators" was slowly turned
into a definition that including anything BUT honey bees.
The US Forest Service and National Parks Service STILL have "restoration"
programs that overtly exclude honey bees from their "restored" areas, as
honey bees are described as either "non-native", or "invasive",  depending
upon how rabid the individuals doing the writing area.  

Full disclosure, I enjoy shooting, and I'm pretty decent shot.  
Like many others, I had a rich uncle named Sam who taught me to shoot, and
did not mind buying me all the ammunition I cared to use in practice.
But if I want to blast something out the sky with a shotgun, I'll shoot at
clay discs, thank you.
Duck is just like goose - all bone, too greasy, and too much trouble to
clean and cook, even when it is not riddled with #2 steel birdshot.

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