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Title Bumble Bee (Bombus Impatiens) Pollination of Field Crops in the State of California

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Title Bumble Bee (Bombus Impatiens) Pollination of Field Crops in the State of California Title Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) pollination of field crops in the state of California California Environmental Quality Act Initial Study and mitigated negative declaration September, 2006 Prepared for California Department of Food and Agriculture Contact: Stephen Brown, Jim Rains Prepared by Koppert Biological Systems, Inc. Ardea consulting This report was prepared by Koppert Biological Systems and its named sources in this paper. The material in it reflects the preparers best judgment on the information available to it at the time of preparation. Any use which the public makes of this report, or any reliance on or decisions to be made based on it, are the responsibility of the public. Koppert Biological Systems and the preparers of this document accept no responsibility for damages, if any, suffered by any third party as a result of decisions made or actions based on this report. CEQA Initial Study: Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) pollination of field crops in the state of California. Table of Contents 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................................3 1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................4 1.2 Regulatory Setting.................................................................................................................................4 1.3 Required Approvals...............................................................................................................................4 1.4 Detailed project description...................................................................................................................4 2.0 INITIAL STUDY.........................................................................................................................................5 2.1 CEQA Initial Study & Environmental Check List Form..........................................................................5 2.2 Environmental Factors Potentially Affected .........................................................................................7 3.0 EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS.......................................................................7 3.1 Definitions..............................................................................................................................................7 3.1.1. Significant ......................................................................................................................................7 3.1.2. Endangered species......................................................................................................................9 3.2 Areas of impact .....................................................................................................................................9 3.3 Transmission of insect diseases or -parasites by the introduced pollinator .10 3.3.1 Exotic pest and diseases..............................................................................................................10 3.3.2 Pest and disease spread..............................................................................................................10 3.3.3 Summary ......................................................................................................................................11 3.3.4 CEQA findings of significance ......................................................................................................11 3.4 Genetic dilution....................................................................................................................................11 3.4.1 Hybridization.................................................................................................................................11 3.4.2 Summary ......................................................................................................................................12 3.4.3 CEQA findings of significance ......................................................................................................12 3.5 Establishment......................................................................................................................................13 3.5.1 Risk of establishment ...................................................................................................................13 3.5.2 Summary ......................................................................................................................................13 3.5.3 CEQA findings of significance ......................................................................................................14 3.6 Competition .........................................................................................................................................14 3.6.1 Competition from introduced hives with native bees....................................................................14 3.6.2 Competition from the established non-native bee with native bees.............................................14 3.6.3 Summary ......................................................................................................................................14 3.6.4 CEQA findings of significance ......................................................................................................14 4.0 LIST OF MITIGATION MEASURES .......................................................................................................15 5.0 DETERMINATION ..................................................................................................................................16 6.0 PERSONS AND AGENCIES CONTACTED ..........................................................................................17 7.0 LIST OF PREPARERS ...........................................................................................................................17 8.0 LITERATURE CITED..............................................................................................................................17 APPENDIX A: Checklist of environmental impacts. .....................................................................................19 APPENDIX B: Ecological risk analysis .........................................................................................................37 APPENDIX C: Disease management procedures........................................................................................57 APPENDIX D: Healthcertificate ....................................................................................................................58 APPENDIX E: Grower pollination contract ...................................................................................................59 2 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1.1 Introduction The following documents are being presented to the California public per the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act to inform the public regarding any potential environmental impacts associated with the suggested introduction of Bombus impatiens as a pollinator for fruit, nut and vegetable crops in the state of CA. Agriculture is a primary industry and source of income for the state of California. Many seed and fruit crops depend on pollination for adequate production and fruit quality. This project is initiated due to the increasing pressure on the availability of commercially available crop pollinators, which could become a limiting factor for the continued sustainability of California agriculture. Pollination deficits have been reported throughout California due to a lack of honeybees available for rent. Honeybees are currently the only pollinator commercially available in sufficient numbers for the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. An increase in the rental fee for honeybee hive rentals has been experienced up to the point where prices have become difficult to afford by growers state wide. Observers have questioned the future availability of pollination services for important agricultural crops (Sumner and Boriss, 2006) As part of these concerns there has been an increasing demand for bumblebees as an alternative in pollination also driven by the following desires of the agricultural community: - availability of more pollinators (quantity) - availability of alternative pollinators (quality); and - price competition between pollinators (economics). Bumblebees are currently one of very few pollinators commercially available in quantities that could prove to be of help to California agriculture. Bumblebees have previously been evaluated for permitting in covered crops and are currently made available to California greenhouse growers under permit by CDFA. Since the commercially available bumblebee species, Bombus impatiens, is not native to California ecologists and biologists have raised potential concerns regarding the release of bumblebees in an outdoor setting. This paper serves as a study to determine the potential impact of the release of a non-native bumblebee, Bombus impatiens, into the agro-ecological system of the state of California for crop pollination. In this paper several impacts will be explained and described in detail, mitigations to prevent potential impacts from occurring are introduced as well. This CEQA document specifically addresses the association between the potential release of bumblebees in California with the requirements described in CEQA. In addition to the
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