Neighborhood Watch as a Tool to Stop Violations
Beekeepers who have tried to salvage their bees after a pesticide kill, know that there is no future in this. Even if the perpetrator pays for the damages (rare), there is still lost production, lost pollination, and lots of extra labor. There is no way to restore the entire loss.
The best protection the bees have, is an educated and concerned bee keeper. Pesticide misuse will go on forever, unless beekeepers get involved to make sure that violations are stopped. Prevention is far better than cure.
Some applicators, often encouraged by ignorant or cynical advisors, will seek to evade compliance with label directions, by offering to call you when they are going to spray. Don't get sucked in by this. You are not responsible for protecting the bees; the applicators are. If you fall for this, you will become the turkey at the turkey shoot, always jumping and running to try to protect the bees. If they comply with the law, you don't need to run.
Have they offered to pay your labor and mileage costs, your motel bills, the extra equipment you need? What if a half dozen applicators call, and are all going to spray the same day? Got a truck and helpers to go to each site? Before daybreak?
Even if you only have a few hives in your back yard, what will your boss say about you taking time off from work, every time your neighbor sprays?
Farmers have two good reasons for being concerned about bees. The first is that they know they need pollination. If they think they don't need pollination, this reason won't help. The second is that they may have unhappy consequences, if they violate the law. Most often contract applicators have only the second reason. Their chief concern is to spray the maximum possible acreage each day. They don't always consider that both pests and lack of pollination can put farmers out of business. Sometimes the future is less important than today's dollar.
Pesticide enforcement officers often have no training in bee/pesticide events; they often don't know the law, some are not even competent to take good samples. Beekeepers have had pesticide officers simply refuse to investigate incidents. When poisonings occur, lots of reports are written, tests are made, and the paperwork is filed, with nothing further done. The regulators say, there isn't sufficient proof.
A good Neighborhood Watch can supply the needed proof. For a good watch you need at least one well-trained beekeeper, who knows the law, and is willing to learn the kinds of pesticides used in the area. You need access to copies of the label directions (from farm and garden stores, extension offices, or on the internet). You need a camcorder. You also need the phone numbers of your state or regional pesticide enforcement officer.
When you have had bee-kills, look for repeats at the same time during the following year. Do the necessary legwork in the meantime. What blooms were sprayed and with what material? What effect does it have on the bees? Do they just drop in the field, and the hives get weak? Or is the pesticide carried home, with piles of dead and dying bees at the entrances?
When the suspect crop or weed begins to bloom, be ready. Carry the camcorder as you go about your bee work. Watch for applications in progress and get them filmed. Show the blossoms with bees foraging on them, if possible. Zoom in on aerial applicators to show the number on the plane. Also zoom to show the face of the applicator on ground rigs. Show the hive entrances with pollen from the suspect crop blossoms being brought in.
You don't know the material that's being sprayed, and you might not find out from the applicator, so you don't know for sure if this is a label violation. Report the spraying to the enforcement officer as a suspected violation, so he or she can find out the material involved. Once the material is known, refer to the label directions for the specifics.
As you are filming the suspected violation, you will come to a decision point. Is it worth the risk to your health and well being, to confront the applicator? There is a potential for arguement, perhaps even further escalation, if either of you is hot tempered. On the other hand, if this is a violation, you may be able to mitigate the damage by getting the guy to comply, for the rest of his application. If you are hot tempered yourself, don't. You may wind up in difficulty with the law, yourself. In this case, it's better to "eat" the damage one more time, and let the officer do the enforcement. Only you can decide if it is worth the risk.