Appointments to the new Governor’s Committee on Pollinator Protection have been announced by Gov. Mark Dayton’s office.

The committee was created to advise the governor, the Environmental Quality Board, the Interagency Pollinator Protection team and other participating agencies on pollinator policy and programs, and to promote statewide collaboration on pollinator protection.

Serving a 28-month term until April 2019 are Erika Bailey-Johnson, Bemidji; James Calkins, Minnetonka; Steve Ellis, Barrett; David Flakne, Minnetonka; Sarah Foltz Jordan, Princeton; Lex Horan, Minneapolis; Robert Koch, St. Paul; Daniel MacSwain, Shoreview; Kevin Paap, Garden City; Erin Rupp, Minneapolis; Dan Schutte, Two Harbors; Marla Spivak, St. Paul; Ted Suss, Lucan; Brian Thalmann, Plato; and Yao Yang, St. Paul.

Members were appointed based on their experience in agriculture, conservation, education, academia or local government.

Dayton announced the formation of the pollinator committee back in August, when he issued an executive order requiring the state to take specific actions to reverse the decline of bees and other pollinator populations. Pollinator populations, critical to Minnesota’s $90 billion agricultural sector, have been in decline in Minnesota over the past decade, according to the governor’s office.

The executive order, which caught the state’s ag industry off guard, followed the completion of a special registration review of neonicotinoid pesticides conducted by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The review outlined steps that would be taken to minimize the impact of pesticide use in the state. Those steps included required verification of neonic pesticide application due to crops threatened by loss, review of pesticide product labels to implement Minnesota-specific restrictions on their use, increased enforcement of label requirements for pesticides that are acutely toxic to pollinators, and ongoing development and promotion of best management practices to protect and enhance pollinator health in the state.