The House Full Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources will hold an executive session February 12, 2015 at 1:30PM on House Bill 1654 – Controlling noxious weeds while still supporting pollen-rich forage plant communities for honey bees.
House Full Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources House Hearing Rm B John L. O’Brien Building Olympia, WA
This is an important issue as all state agencies are required to control noxious weeds on lands that they manage.
This bill commissions a pilot project by the Noxious Weed Control Board that evaluates the advantages of replacing pollen-rich noxious weeds with native forage plants that can produce similar levels of pollen to support honeybee populations.
This requires state agencies, as part their mandate to control noxious weeds on the land they manage, to give preference, when practicable, to replacing pollen-rich noxious weeds with native bee forage plants.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=1654
Contact your legislator representative:
DO THIS TODAY. It takes about 2 minutes to make a difference. Here is what you do:
- Go to the bill’s web page at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=1654
- On the upper part of the page, click comment on this bill.
- Fill in your information to verify your legislative district.
- Select that that you support it.
- Fill in the comment section with either a copy of letter (below) or something similar.
- Thank them for the work they do for us.
First, thank you for all you do for us. Please support honey bee (and other insect pollinator) health by passing HB 1654. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Honey Bee Working Group Report identified bee forage and bee nutrition as one of four main issues affecting honey bee health. The report concluded that access to diverse pollen and nectar sources is essential for honey bees to properly meet nutritional needs. This pilot project will provide valuable bee forage.
Thank you.
Republished from WASBA