randy oliver wrote July 6:

> may I reiterate that the "native pollinator people" are
> our allies in a battle for recognition and funding, and
> that we should be appreciative of our allies, not insulting.

James Fischer wrote July 7:

> Further, the STATED GOAL of these advocates of native pollinators
> is to COMPETE with beekeepers:
> http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/pollinator_week_action.html

I keep wondering whether or not the conventional growers of 
almonds and other honeybee dependent crops would consider 
the "native pollinator people" as allies?

The native pollinator people frequently refer to the following landmark
California study: "Case Studies on Conservation of Pollination
Services as a Component of Agricultural Biological Diversity."
http://www.fao.org/AG/aGp/agps/C-CAB/Castudies/pdf/6-023.pdf

One of the stated goals of that study was to: "investigate the
influence of agricultural intensification on the [wild] crop pollinating
species and on the pollination services they provide"

Some of  their key results were:

- Wild bee diversity, abundance and services declined significantly
with agricultural intensification.

-The most important [wild] pollinating species were also most
sensitive to agricultural intensification.

- In watermelon, a plant species with large pollination requirements,
the wild bee community can provide sufficient pollination services,
but only on low intensity farms.

- A few wild bee species were found nesting in the ground on farms.
We found that nesting bees were more abundant on farms close to
natural habitat, suggesting that natural habitat provides the source
of these nesting females

In the Section IV Analysis part of the study the authors said:

· 2d. the scale of [wild] pollination services is on the order of 1 ­ 2 km.
We identified a relationship between the proportion of natural habitat
at this scale and the level of services provided.

· 2d. Barriers to management at this scale are that multiple private
land-owners must cooperate to restore habitat or improve farming
management practices with benefits for all. If one farmer uses
pesticides while his neighbor restores pollinator habitat, results
are likely to be unsatisfactory.

· 3a. This study shows that diversity and abundance of [wild] pollinators
are at risk from increasing agricultural intensification, with important
effects on [wild] pollination services.

· 3b. We identified management practices that we think will promote
wild bee existence and persistence on farms

· 3c. Farming communities naturally form interactive social units
that depend upon one another for various kinds of assistance
(sharing equipment, transport, techniques). Therefore, although
implementing positive practices for pollinators across an entire
landscape is a challenge (see 2d), working with farming communities
means working with individuals who may already see the benefits
 of a communal approach.
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So Randy & Jim it appears to me these native pollinator people
are NOT the allies of conventional growers and beekeepers
because they appear to want conventional farmers to adopt low
intensity organic type farming practices and to "implement positive
practices for pollinators across an entire landscape" and get them
all to organized and cooperating with one another in "communal
interactive social units".

My guess is that the conventional growers of honeybee 
dependent crops like almonds would say agricultural 
intensification one of the main reasons they have achieved 
large and consistent yield increases like these:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/almonde.jpg

Still another angle on all this whole matter is that
the native pollinator people sometimes suggest
native wild bees could perform better as pollinators
in non-farm settings in the absence of honeybees.  
They further advise that honeybee removal research 
experiments be conducted to determine how
much better the native pollinators might perform in
their absense.  Seems to me the native pollinator
people might eventually recommend this research
to be conducted in farm settings as well.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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