July 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 33

Conservancy. All of these factors,
and the growing belief that the neonicotinoids are implicated in Colony
Collapse Disorder (CCD) in honeybees, have led to urgent calls for action by national environmental and
conservation organizations such the
Center for Food Safety, the Center
for Environmental Health, the American Bird Conservancy and beekeeper groups nationwide.
A coalition of groups filed an
emergency petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
suspend the use of one of the neonics, clothianidin, which is believed
to kill birds as well as beneficial bees,
but it was denied by the EPA. Lawsuits have been filed, and in 2013,
Reps. John Conyers and Earl Blumenauer introduced the " Saving America's Pollinators Act, " H.R. 2692, but
it failed to make it out of committee
in the House of Representatives. This
bill would require the EPA to suspend
the registration of neonicotinoids,
conduct a review and do field studies,
and for the EPA and the Department
of the Interior to monitor the adverse
impacts on birds, bats, bees and other beneficial insects. The European
Union, by contrast, recently adopted
a two-year suspension of the use of
neonicotinoids while studies to determine impacts on native bees and
other wildlife species are completed.
The Impacts to Natural
Resources and Wildlife
The effects of neonicotinoids on bees
are becoming more well-documented. What is known is that the neonics are systemically absorbed into
plant tissue and can be present as residues in leaves, flowers and pollen.
Furthermore, neo-nics can be found
in plant tissues and soils up to six
months after application, and residue

concentrations can reach lethal levels
in some plants for some species. They
are particularly deadly to honeybees
and bumblebees as well as a number
of butterfly species. Most troubling
is that some manufacturers' recommended application rates may cause
consumers to apply concentrations at
up to 100 times those used in agricultural applications without realizing
the impact the product will have on
bees or other pollinating insects.
Neo-nics' persistence in the environment is causing researchers to
take a closer look at the effects on
aquatic ecosystems particularly, and
on birds generally. It is known that
one kernel of corn treated with one
type of neonicotinoid is enough to
kill a songbird if ingested. Amphibians appear to be hard-hit as well, as
they take the brunt of concentrated
residues contained in surface runoff
into ponds, wetlands and streams. In
addition, emerging evidence shows
that the registration of the neonicotinoids did not seem to take into
full consideration the impacts on
the reproductive cycles of birds and
other sublethal impacts. Studies have
shown birds that consume one-tenth
of an affected seed per day during
egg-laying season may suffer negative
impacts to reproduction. Seed treatments seem to have the largest effect
on birds because there is inevitably
some percentage of spilled seed or
some portion of the crop that is not
fully covered by soil.
A Course of Action for Parks
Pollinators are important for parks,
and parks are vital to pollinators. Park
and recreation agencies should make
every effort to learn more about this
class of insecticides and to assess the
potential benefits and hazards of applying neonicotinoid insecticides in

parks - on golf courses, in horticultural displays, to agricultural areas and
in any other areas where pest management is practiced, with particular care
to the potential effects on bees, songbirds and aquatic organisms.
At a minimum, certified applicators and managers who have responsibility for directing other staff
in application of insecticides should
become aware of the potential shortterm and long-term dangers of neonicotinoid insecticides. Further, even
if agencies are practicing Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) strategies,
it is important to take into consideration that new pre-emptive application strategies that call for applying
insecticides to turf or as seed treatments are taking precedence over
IPM methods. Such strategies call
for applying pesticides in advance of
any specific evidence of insect damage, rather than selectively and in
response to damage. With neonicotinoids, this practice can cause longterm unintended harm to bees and
other pollinators as well as damage
to aquatic ecosystems. Parks need to
be protectors of our pollinators, and
better knowledge about the insecticides we use will help accomplish
that goal.
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President of
Conservation and Parks (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

Resources

For more information about the potential conservation impacts of neonicotinoids in parks, and to assess
hazards and risks, visit the Xerces
Society at www.xerces.org/neonico
tinoids-and-bees and the American
Bird Conservancy at www.abcbirds.
org/abcprograms/policy/toxins/
Neonic_FINAL.pdf.

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July 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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