That clearly puts into focus the absolute interconnectedness between crop production and honey bee pollination. Introduced to B.C. by European settlers, the Georgia Basin's honey bees are threatened by the infestation of a pinhead-sized parasite that lays its eggs in bee hives. When the Varroa jacobsconi mite hatches, it sucks the blood of the bee eggs, deforming or killing the embryonic bees. Vancouver Island honey bee colonies were attacked in 1997 and though the mites will never be eliminated a united front by Island beekeepers has contributed to their decline. Another factor in bee habitat loss is deforestation.
Deforestation coincides with the elimination of dead wood which is crucial bee habitat.
Ironically, improved forest practices have negatively effected Vancouver Island bees. An abrupt drop in clearcutting has reduced the availability of fireweed, a high quality source for bee forage. Fireweed blossoms spring up in dense pink spires after clearcuts and forest fires. Development and large scale agriculture also play a part in habitat loss by causing soil disruption that destroys bee habitat. Certain bee species prefer to nest underground and the soil needs to be left for at least a year so the queen bee can over-winter.