Neighbors celebrate their new honeybee sanctuary. Photos Contributed
Residents of Clifton and Fairfax Station held a block party to celebrate their new Bee Safe Neighborhood earlier this month. The owners of 104 contiguous properties totaling more than 600 acres have agreed to refrain from using systemic pesticides on their land.
The residents learned that although all insecticides kill indiscriminately, systemic pesticides such as imidacloprid are particularly problematic because they get incorporated into the plants and poison any bee, butterfly, or other insect that tries to feed on them. By banding together, the neighbors are working to carve out a sanctuary amidst suburbia.
A goal of the event was show the neighbors the ways in which suburbs can play an essential role in preserving habitat from the destruction taking place in agricultural settings.
The street leading to the party was decorated with signs drawing attention to native plants such as American beautyberry which are beneficial to insects, and to invasive introduced plants such as Japanese barberry which are crowding them out and taking over a nearby park. Attendees at the event also got to see a demonstration by beekeeper Kathleen Luisa, who brought her bee suit, bee box, and all the equipment (but not the bees). The state of Virginia encourages homeowners to keep honeybees, which are essential to agriculture but are threatened by Colony Collapse Disorder.
The Clifton/Fairfax Station project is the first official Bee Safe Neighborhood in Virginia. The project was inspired by a grass-roots movement in Colorado to not only raise awareness of the dangers of pesticides but to do something concrete about them. More information about Bee Safe Neighborhoods can be found at http://livingsystemsinst.org/content/bee-safe-neighborhoods.