Honeybees are the poster-child of pollination and for good reason. Honeybees contribute to about a third of the fruits and vegetables that end up on people’s plates and help to pollinate about 80% of the United States’ flowering crops.
Over the last several years,conservation efforts have focused largely on preserving a steadily declining population of bees. The biggest threats include invasive pests, growing pesticide use, emerging diseases and habitat loss.
“We’re seeing massive over development,” said backyard Southern beekeeper-turned-conservationist Danielle Brooks. “Companies come in and plow down all these places, and yay for economic growth, I guess, but we’re not replacing these habitats. And our pollinators are really struggling.”
Brooks, founder of Honey Truck, said to be the nation’s premier food truck specializing in natural honey. While based in St. Augustine Fla., she spends a lot of her time traveling around the Southeast educating people about the important role pollinators play in American agriculture.
Interestingly, the challenges that bees face in coastal St. Augustine are similar to what native bees in South Carolina’s Lowcountry face, too.
“Natural forages are disappearing, native habitats are being removed, and colonies are generally weakening as we enter the fall season,” she said. “Generally speaking, queens aren’t as healthy as they used to be, and new pesticides are becoming problems.”
Conservation pays off, slowly
Despite numerous challenges facing pollinator populations, nationwide conservation efforts appear to be helping. According to data from the annual U.S. Beekeeping Survey, beekeepers are seeing declining honeybee losses — the number of bees in a colony that die prematurely.
Honeybee losses came in at 39.9% in colonies for April 2025 to 2026, down from a record-setting 55.6% the previous year. A total of 2,327 beekeepers provided responses from across the nation, covering a collective 318,493 colonies out of the 2.41 million honey-producing colonies across the country.
And while the most recent downward trend is a good thing, losses are still a big concern to beekeepers.
“While annual losses were lower than those recorded during the previous two years, they still remained high, with American beekeeping operations losing approximately 40% of their colonies on average,” the report said.
And unfortunately, losses are even worse for backyard beekeepers and hobbyists, compared to professional operations, which is a shift in the pattern from previous years. Backyard beekeepers saw 54.8% colony loss between 2025 and 2026, compared to 38.7% loss by commercial beekeepers.
Small efforts, big impacts: How you can help save bees
South Carolina is home to more than 400 species of native bees, including bumblebees, honeybees, carpenter bees and more. Most of them are solitary, burrowing species, as opposed to the colony-building honeybees.
Florida beekeeper and conservation educator Danielle Brooks travels the Southeast teaching people about the importance of preserving native bee populations and pollinators. She partners with the University of Florida’s Master Craftsman Beekeeper Program to bring awareness to schools and communities.
Brooks said a lot of the teaching she does focuses on what the average person can do in their own backyard to help pollinators. These options range from homemade habitats built from bamboo planted in gardens to encouraging bees to nest away from their people’s homes without harming them.
“When I educate children, I go into their schools and talk about how we can help the bees by making habitats,” Brooks said. “That graduates when I talk to adults. ‘I have these bees boring into my nice wood deck,’ they tell me. So instead of creating a trap that kills pollinators, let’s build them a new place to go.”
Combatting habitat loss is something that starts on the individual level, too, she said. Supporting local plant nurseries instead of large-scale operations can lead to smaller habitat loss over time. Plus, native plants are better for pollinators than imported trees and flowers that don’t generally grow in the same environment.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
