Portland (Oregon) let's build a bee highway, too.

Norway leads the way in bee highway implementation

I like how Oslo, Norway is building the world's first bee highway. I live in Oregon and I would love for Portland to start up a bee highway that could potentially go down the I-5 corridor through Salem, Albany/Corvallis, Eugene; and perhaps, all the way down to Roseburg. The concept of a bee highway isn't a major feat, as all it really involves is getting people together for the common good of planting bee friendly plants down a route that facilitates bee traffic and encourages their populations. Bees are in greater need of protection than ever, especially with the rise of chemical use in the agriculture sector and increases in urban sprawl, so bee highways may be a positive addition to urban land use by providing the bees with hospitable environments.

Summer losses outweigh winter losses 

According to a recent survey by the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, there were greater losses in bee populations in the summer of 2014 than in the winter of 2014-2015. Of the 6,000 beekeepers that responded across the 50 states to the survey, approximately 42.1 percent of their colonies were killed off over the course of the year.  Summer losses for 2014 were at 27.4 percent whereas 23.1 percent of honey bee colonies were lost during the winter of 2014-2015. This is an increase from the summer of 2013 at 19.8 percent while it is a slight decrease for the winter of 2013-2014 at 23.7 percent.   

Colony Collaspe Disorder may be blamed 

Why so many bees dying during the warm weather months?  This strange occurrence may point out that something was introduced to the environment that is lethal to the bees. Colony Collaspe Disorder (CCD) is a phenomena that is killing off bees and leaving hives without workers. It is connected to various sources, but pesticide use is the leading concern. Experts will claim that this phenomena is not visibly apparent to the recent bee die offs, but I would beg to differ. Granted, varroa mites take a good percentage of bees each year, however we also know that one of the primary culprits for commerical die offs are neonicotinoids. Their use has become so rampant for wheat, corn and soy products along with vegetables and fruits that I don't see how bees are able avoid these pesticides' paralyzing affects. 

Mankinds' future is linked to the bees'  

So we may not be able to stop the perpetrators (as of yet) from poisoning the bees in our nation's crop fields, but we can lure the bees to more harmonious sites filled with nectar rich flowers. A bee highway utilizes the best flowers, herbs and weeds (bees love flowering weeds). Instead of chopping down all the grasses along highways and eradicating all the flowering weeds, government agencies should see to it that bee habitats be protected for the sake of not only the bees' future, but also for mankind's. Much of our food is dependent on bee pollination, which means that without the bees we will not be eating the foods we love that are also healthy. 

Sichuan, China is a great example of what happens when you don't protect the habitats of living things. A non profit called BioProfit did a study and found that over-extensive farming contributed to the loss of natural bee habitat in the area. Consequently, commercial bees were sent to the fruit farms to fill in for the indigenous bees, but the pesticide use killed them. So each year, thousands of villagers come to pollinate each and every blossom on the fruit trees by hand using chicken feathers, an arduous process that must be done within less than a week's time.

Build it and they will come

According to the Bee Conservancy, bees love single flower tops over double flower tops, as these make it easier for bees to reach the pollen. Moreover, hybrid types don't always provide enough pollen for bees. They also recommend planting at least three different types of flowers that will offer a constant food source for bees through the seasons.

• Crocus, hyacinth, borage, calendula, and wild lilac = spring
• Bee balm, cosmos, echinacea, snapdragons, foxglove, and hosta = summer
• Zinnias, sedum, asters, witch hazel, goldenrod = fall                                             

Flowering restaurants can be anywhere

It doesn't take much construction to build a bee highway. Rather, a bee highway is built upon the interconnections of locales that provide "flowering restaurants" for bees.  These feeding stations can include rooftop gardens on top of hotels and corporate buildings, balcony container gardens of apartment and condo dwellers, flowering yards in suburban neighborhoods, community gardens that incorporate pollinator plants, and all the other places in between...

Bybi, an urban bee conservation group is helping Oslo, Norway with their bee highway by offering an online map that indicates where more bee plants are needed. This ingenious method of bringing a community together for a common good should be encouraging to other cities around the world. It is my hope that America will create bee highways for not only our beloved honey bees, but for all the other pollinators as well; such as our bumble bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds too.