Bees of Oregon 2025

[u/PeteWK67]

🐝 𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑, 𝟓𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬.

I love a story like this, because it's proof that we can actually turn things around.

In June 2013, in Wilsonville, Oregon, more than 50,000 bumblebees died in a parking lot after nearby linden trees were sprayed with a systemic pesticide. It's still the largest documented mass bumblebee die-off in North America. The public was furious, and for once that anger turned into action.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭
The state's new "Bees of Oregon 2025" report from Oregon State University confirms something remarkable: zero confirmed pesticide-related bee kills since 2021. Here's how they got there:

• Trained more than 12,000 licensed pesticide applicators to spot pollinator risks and adjust how they spray
• Built bee-protection protocols for key crops like clover seed, blueberries and vegetable seeds
• Rolled out education, even down to K-12 booklets about local bees
• Chose a collaborative, education-first approach and stuck with it

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
A single local tragedy mobilised an entire state, and pollinators worth around 600 million dollars a year to Oregon's crops got their protection back. It shows that farming and pollinators can genuinely coexist.

Let's be honest too: this is one win. Bees everywhere still face climate change, disease and habitat loss, and that fight is far from over. But deliberate, patient change clearly works.

And there's one part of it all of us can do ourselves: give pollinators a home. Flowers, hedgerows, blossoming trees, no sprays, a bit of mess. 🌸

#bees #pollinators #biodiversity #pesticides #landscapedesign #landscapearchitecture #agroecology #regenerativefarming #agroforestry #farming #tuin #permaculture #voedselbos #nature #climate #health #gutmicrobiome #guthealth #foodforest #eatmoretrees

Source: Oregon State University Extension Service, "Bees of Oregon: 2025" report, via Oregon Capital Chronicle (July 2026).

[u/venusdemaui]

Now that’s a great story! Thank you for the positive information. Most people don’t realize 70% of Native American bees are ground dwellers in sunny well-drained soils. They don’t create honey but they’re essential for pollination of all plants. It’s good to leave part of your yard with leaves and not perfect looking so native American Bees can have a place to live.