APPROVED 4/29/10

RESOLUTION ON NATIONWIDE MONITORING OF THE INSECT BIOMASS

Save Our Sandhills

WHEREAS, a healthy insect population is critically necessary for the survival of many wildlife species, including songbirds, quail, turkeys, many herpetological species, and trout and several other freshwater fish species; and

WHEREAS, there is growing evidence that insect populations around the world are experiencing stress, examples being the alarming decline in Canada of birds that feed on flying insects; the significant decline in female monarch butterflies over the past 30 years; declines in firefly populations in the United States, Europe, and Asia; and declines in several species of native North American bumble bees; and

WHEREAS, a New York study commissioned by The Nature Conservancy showed high levels of mercury in the blood and feathers of songbirds, which suggested that when mercury falls on land it is absorbed by the soil and by vegetable matter that is consumed by insects; and

WHEREAS, despite the excellent work being done by numerous researchers across the country, there is no coordinated and broadly based methodological program in effect to monitor the ongoing health of the insect biomass in the United States; and

WHEREAS, policy makers, law makers, and wildlife officials need the hard data that such a coordinated program might provide in order to set effective laws and rules to help protect our native wildlife populations; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the best position to establish and coordinate such a nationwide monitoring program;

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