Wilsonville OR & beyond: 50,000 Bee (& other insect) deaths due to Safari pesticide sprayed on 55 trees at commercial property

This is huge. It is the largest documented die-off of bumblebees. Other insects such as ladybugs died too. There are reports of related insect deaths in neighboring towns. The pesticide was sprayed June 15th at the Target store location.
Elliot Associates is the land management company that rents out the property "Argyle Square." 
For some reason, the investigation as to whether wrong-doing may have occurred is expected to take four months!

A Google search yields many news agencies covering this avoidable tragedy.
Click for continuing coverage of  "bumblebee death" by Oregon Live (The Oregonian).

Follow The Xerces Society of Portland OR on Twitter for continuing news. The mission of the Xerces Society is to protect invertebrates.

The Oregonian article:

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/06/pesticide_confirmed_in_bee_dea.html#/0

Staff from the Oregon Department of Agriculture confirmed the active ingredient in the insecticide Safari is responsible for the bee and insect deaths.

Discovery News article:

25,000 Dead Bees in Target Store Parking Lot : Discovery News

Excerpt:

The blooming linden trees in the Target parking lot had been sprayed with Safari, a pesticide produced by Valent Professional Products, to protect the plants from aphid attack. However, the active ingredient in Safari was the chemical dinotefuran, an insect-killing poison chemically similar to nicotine. These nitotine-like pesticides, known as neonicotinoids kill bees, along with a wide range of other insects.

This die-off is an especially sad event as it occurred (is still occurring) during National Pollinator Week 2013  June 17 - 23.

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