Resolution:

Corridors for Pollinators: Maintaining Roadsides for Pollinators; Establishment, Restoration, Management and Maintenance

CARRIED | November 2022

STATUS: OPEN

RATIONALE / PURPOSE FOR RESOLUTION:

• WHEREAS honey bees and other pollinators are important to agriculture, the economy, food security, biodiversity and the environment
• WHEREAS honey is regulated for residues of herbicides and pesticides WHEREAS pesticides and herbicides have a known negative health effect on honey bees and other pollinators
• WHERE AS honey bees are a sentinel for One Health
• WHEREAS the Alberta Beekeepers Commission understands the need roadside maintenance and safety
• WHEREAS Alberta Agriculture & Irrigation and Alberta Transportation or their delegates own or control land that can create important corridors for forage, nutrition, and habitat

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The Alberta Beekeepers Commission request Agriculture and Irrigation work with Transportation and Economic Corridors to develop a strategy for pollinators accessing Alberta’s public spaces and roadways which considers the needs of honey bees, beekeepers and native pollinators.

RESOLUTION BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Increasing the range and diversity of available forage throughout the season is critical to ensuring healthy honey bees and other pollinators. Climate change, pesticides, pests and changing field crop varieties are all challenges to the longterm health of honey bees and other pollinators. Alberta has 165,000 kilometres of unpaved and 62,000 km of paved roads which can, with best management practices that keep honey bees, beekeepers and other pollinators in mind, can help to support the nutritional needs of this important resource.

One Health: One Health is an approach calling for “the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment”, as defined by the One Health Initiative Task Force

• Pheasants Forever – Save the Edges 
• Roadside Best Management Practices that Benefit Pollinators
• Pollinators and Roadsides: Best Management Practices for Managers and Decision Makers
• Identifying the Current State of Practice for Vegetation Management Associated with Pollinator Health and Habitat: An Interview Report

Name of producer submitting resolution: Grace Strom

Name of person seconding resolution: Jeremy Olthof

2024 UPDATE

1. ABC worked with CHC to arrange for planting of forage for pollinators in the Western Irrigation District.  The seed has been provided by CHC.
2. ABC has met with two other groups, including Edmonton Airports about planting more forage for honey bees.

2023 UPDATE

The Commission has reached out to Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors (ATEC), Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation (AAI)– ATEC indicated that mowing and spraying are important activities to keep roadways safe. Has not responded to date. The Commission presented to the Agriculture Service Boards Committee who had some recommendations to increase awareness among that group as well as Agriculture Fieldmen.  In addition, the Commission is working with some of the applied research associations within  Applied Research and Extension Council Alberta (ARECA) to do some tests on planting pollinator corridor strips.