It is that time of year again—Colorado Legislature is in session! Time to get bills passed!
Did you know that I am one of the co-founders of People and Pollinators Action Network
(PPAN)? It’s true and we’ve been around for over 10 years now! PPAN is a 501c3 non-
profit that brings deep knowledge of and experience with pollinator protection,
community development, environmental policy, sustainable agriculture, and habitat
management. Anything pollinator that you can think of in the state of CO is due to our
unceasing efforts—think the CO Pollinator Highway, the pollinator license plate, the
Native Pollinating Insect Health Study for starters. The list is LONG—check it out here!
As usual and as always, People and Pollinators Action Network (PPAN) is chaperoning or
supporting bills through the session that could use YOUR support! Read on and give us
a hand.
The purpose of this bill is to reduce the prophylactic overuse of neonicotinoid seeds in
Colorado. Full text of the bill is here.
Neonicotinoids are the most common pesticide used in American agriculture due to
their ease of use as an unregulated seed coating. Yep, unregulated—really! Why?
Because they were granted something called a “treated article exemption” when they
were first introduced which means that they aren’t actually even considered to be a
pesticide by the EPA and, therefore, are not subject to FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) which is the regulations that govern pesticide use in the
US. Hmmmm…it is an insecticide. It acts like an insecticide and it needs to be regulated
like an insecticide. But—I’m not talking Federal policy in this blog. I’m talking State.
Here in CO, this is corn and other assorted row crops. Seed coatings ensure that every
part of the plant has an insecticide in it: the leaves, the stems, the flowers , the nectar
and the pollen. The whole plant is an insecticide! Neonics are highly water soluble and
regularly disperse from the treatment site to contaminate ditches, ponds and streams.
Neonics are highly mobile in soil as well so contamination is found outside of application
site in non-target plants and weeds. Neonics are highly toxic to insects—regardless of
whether they are good or bad. The results of these prophylactic seed treatments on
corn and other field crops have been overuse, widespread environmental
contamination, well-documented harm to beneficial insects and pollinators and
escalated pest resistance.
Sign on here in support of the bill which would require a prescription for use and which
would allow farmers to actually have a choice to buy something other than treated
seed. Colorado is not the first state to pass this legislation—but it should be the next. It
has been passed elsewhere in the US and Canada and has not resulted in decreased
production or profits for farmers. Visit the website here.
This is another bill with a crucial hearing this week! Bill fact sheet can be found here.
This bill addresses another critical issue concerning pollinator health—uncontaminated
forage! It urges the State to incorporate native plant materials into large-scale
plantings; to collaborate to leverage collective buying power and reduce costs; to study
native plant availability etc. to inform future policy and market development. Click here
to support this bill.
Turns out that rodenticides poison a lot of other species besides rodents. Kids and pets
are the primary non-target consumers of accidental rodenticide ingestion. Birds,
especially carrion birds, are also adversely impacted by rodenticides along with other
rodent eating mammals such as coyotes and fox. It makes sense, given that there are
many non-toxic alternatives to rodent management available, that we should restrict
the sale and use of chemical rodenticides. Read the bill here.
My personal thanks to Project Coyote for putting this environmental hazard on the
radar for me. And, if you want to be truly abhorred, read the 2024 Wildlife Services
Killing Report. Uh oh—I’m back to the Feds again. But if there is a single entity that is
operating in the environmental space that is the same as ICE in the human space,
wildlife services is it. It is totally disgusting and should not exist and definitely should
not be conducted by the Federal government. “Wildlife Services”, my ass. They killed
24,000 beavers in 2024 alone! We are beaver believers over here and that is just plain
offensive.
Join me in sending an email to your Representative as well as your State Senator urging
their support for the passage of these bills. If your Senator or Representative sits on the
Agriculture Committee of either the House or the Senate, please also consider a phone
call. Not sure who your legislators are? Click here. Constituent voices matter! Make
your voice heard!
