> I noticed 2 counties that had sprayed every milkweed
> and thistle, and I think jimsonweed weed in the road ditches.
> what about counties like most here that spray thistles or 
> milkweed, how long before no refuge left for certain weeds. 

Charlie, the anti-neonic / anti-GMO crop groups and the 
academics who work with them don't seem to care much about
the farm road ditch milkweeds, thistles, sunflowers, red clover, 
alfalfa, etc. You just don't see them spending much time 
lobbying farm road management agencies to change harmful
practices (e.g. don't see them actively advocating changing 
mowing times to October - April instead of late spring and 
summer).

So to make those groups accountable we (and/or the ag
chem and biotech seed companies) need to learn how to
photo and video document all the pollinator action that 
occurs right next to the GMO crop monocultures and how 
excessive and untimely farm road ditch and spraying 
negatively impacts pollinator abundance.

The point we need to drive home is that by focusing on 
banning neonics and new GMO crop technologies like
the new Enlist herbicide system, the pollinator groups
are diverting attention away from the real factors that 
are having an impact on pollinator abundance on 
croplands.

Another issue that also needs to be photo and video 
documented is the harm that foliar and soil drench 
insecticides do to non-target insects and beneficial 
insects when neonic seed treatments are banned.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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