U.S. Government's Next Policy Move: Save the Honeybees

The Obama administration unveiled the first national strategy to protect honeybees and monarch butterflies on Tuesday. These insect species are vital pollinators of crops that have suffered from precipitous declines in population during the past few decades, with honeybees particularly hard hit by a mysterious ailment known as colony collapse disorder (CCD).
The administration's actions comprise the first time a coordinated federal effort has been mounted to arrest the population declines in these two iconic and fragile species. The White House hopes to reverse America's declining honeybee and monarch butterfly populations by making more federal land bee-friendly, spending more on research and by considering using less pesticides.