When it comes to articulating what he sees as the pivotal importance of honeybees and other pollinating insects’ role in the local agriculture, Scott Lealand didn’t mince words.

“They are absolutely necessary. … It’s not an option. They are a vital part of our environment’s well-being,” Lealand, a longtime beekeeper and former president of the Trumbull County Beekeepers Association, said.

It’s easy and perhaps instinctive for some to reflexively associate honeybees with dandelions and the ubiquitous white clover flowers that grow in many lawns and fields during the spring and goldenrod that appears in fall, but the bees do far more than merely pollinate those common weeds. Not nearly as visible to people is that the insects also pollinate and contribute to the health of numerous area plants and trees, he noted.

Those include basswood varieties, said Lealand, who also was a Trumbull County apiary inspector. Other examples of trees and flowers that thrive, courtesy of honeybees and other pollinating insects, include milkweed, buckeye, boxelder, serviceberry, common hackberry, magnolia, honey locust, ash, persimmon, cherry and dogwood varieties, according to The Ohio State University Extension’s website.

In addition, honeybees and bumblebees, along with other pollinators, are important to Trumbull County’s apple orchards as well as residential gardens – to say nothing of their crucial role in the food industry, Lealand explained. He noted that the county has more than 100 beekeepers.

“About one-third of the food we eat was pollinated by honeybees,” he said, adding, “One bite out of every three you put in your mouth is directly attributable to honeybees.”

Nationwide, beekeeping is a multibillion dollar industry, and in excess of half of the country’s commercial colonies (more than 2 million hives) are transported each year to California’s Central Valley for the California almond pollination event, Lealand said. The massive effort, which takes place in February and March, brings billions of bees to pollinate more than 1 million acres and to orchards, which play a vital part in the world’s almond supply.

The Central Valley, a 450-mile-long and 50-mile-wide agricultural basin, is where tomatoes, cereal grains, hay, vegetables, cotton and about 250 other crops are grown as part of an estimated $17 billion industry annually, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The region also is the nation’s leading agricultural belt.

Despite the importance of the insects, one of their most insidious enemies is the Varroa mite, a predator that was brought to the U.S. from Asia. While harmless to humans and livestock, the microscopic mite feeds on the bees and can transmit up to 23 diseases and viruses while decimating entire hives, Lealand said.

Two ways to fight against the insect are medical means as well as formic acid, a highly effective and organic treatment that works best between 50 and 85 degrees, Lealand said, adding that the mites also contributed to colony collapse disorder, which is a sudden disappearance of most worker bees from a hive. Left behind typically are food, along with the queen and a few nurse bees.

During the winter, contrary to some people’s assumptions, the bees do not hibernate. Instead, they go into what’s known as a torpor state in which the pollinators conserve energy via reducing their metabolic rate and movement while forming a tight, insular protection around the queen bee, Lealand explained.

They also vibrate their wing muscles to generate heat while trying to maintain a temperature of about 80 degrees, even in subzero conditions, he added.

MAHONING COUNTY

Mahoning County is home to about 79 apiaries and more than 300 bee colonies, Don Kovach, the Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association’s president, noted.

The nonprofit beekeepers association periodically buys 3-pound packages of bees from a California location, which adds up to several thousand insects, along with a queen bee, because about 40% of such bees die during the winter, he said, adding that a queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs per day.

The association, launched in 1984, seeks to educate the public regarding the vital role the bees play as pollinators, as well as to the local ecology and economy. Educational efforts also include grooming novice beekeepers on properly managing colonies, along with instructing veteran beekeepers on new practices, according to its website.

Also, the beekeepers association has been a presence at the Canfield Fair since 1987, Kovach recalled.

Typically when the weather warms in spring, the cluster the bees had formed to conserve warmth and energy breaks, he continued.

Sometimes, protecting hives and colonies from the devastating effects of the Varroa mite and other enemies also requires a bit of ingenuity, innovation and improvisation as well.

“We have to be part veterinarians,” Kovach added.

Often from late April to late June, the bees swarm, with peak periods in May and June, he said. This occurs when thousands of bees, accompanied by the queen, leave their hives because of overcrowding to find a new place to live.

Those who notice bee swarms are advised to refrain from spraying or using other measures to kill the bees. Instead, a best practice is to contact a beekeeper, Kovach and others have said.

For more information about the Columbiana-Mahoning Beekeepers Association, go to its website, www.cmcba.net.