But bee numbers are down so much from parasitic mites and toxic habitats that beekeepers nationwide are scrambling to save their colonies.

To make matters worse, backyard gardeners are wiping out bee populations by carelessly using pesticides and indiscriminately killing any insect with a stinger.

City dwellers can help protect this key part of the food chain by knowing the difference between attacker insects such as wasps, yellow jackets and hornets, and the gentle pollinators such honey bees, leaf cutters and wild bumblebees.

Such knowledge could be critical to some beekeepers' survival.

In Utah, the Beehive State, the numbers of colonies (each one supports from 20,000 to 60,000 bees) have dropped from 32,000 to 23,000 in the past decade, according to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Although yields have recently increased, honey production is nowhere near the state's 1963 banner year, when three times the amount of 2004's honey. Utah ranks 24th in the nation in honey production, generating $1.7 million from honey sales.

Last year, California suffered its most severe bee shortage, with half its colonies severely weakened or killed, according to the American Beekeeping Federation. That shortage has a domino effect in that crop production driven by pollination in the Golden State will be affected. That in turn probably has affected beef and dairy production, which is dependent on legume forage such as alfalfa and clover that requires pollination.

"The wasp attacking your guests at a barbecue or carrying off part of your hot dog is not a honey bee that's interested only in pollinating your garden," said Taylorsville beekeeper Larry Knowlden. "Bees are not the predator insects that go after you and your food."

This issue is important to Knowlden because for the first time in 24 years, he is without bees, perhaps because a homeowner somewhere in Salt Lake County used a toxic spray that helped kill off his entire colony.

Knowlden advises gardeners not to spray during the daylight hours, starting at sunrise when bees begin flying about, until sunset, when they scurry back to their hives. And don't spray flowers or blossoms or use pesticides that kill bees.

Knowing the right pesticide to use is as easy as reading the label. Package directions indicate whether the compounds are harmful to bees.

To get rid of insect predator nests, use Sevin (carbaryl) as a dust or liquid concentrate, Dursban (chlorpyrifos) as a dust, or Orthene (acephate) as a liquid concentrate. These compounds are to be applied directly to the predators' nests, not sprayed so that bees will be protected, said Rosalind James, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research leader at Utah State University.

Homeowners can help out even more by contacting beekeepers when swarms of honeybees leave overcrowded hives, settling under building eves, on fences or backyard trees.

If you spot swarming bees, call Knowlden, secretary of the Utah Beekeepers Association, at 801-966-8619. Beekeepers will remove the clouds of honeybees and take them home to start new colonies.

Because of the dwindling numbers of bees, hobbyists have become vital to fruit and vegetable gardening in urban areas. In fact, the majority of the state's beekeepers are hobbyists, said Knowlden, who until this year had always maintained at least one colony in his backyard.

"My neighbors don't complain," he said. "They see first-hand the benefits of having bees around to pollinate their fruit trees and gardens."

If wild bumblebees populate your garden, consider protecting them rather destroying their habitats.

Unlike honeybee nests, bumblebee nests are small, bumblebees generally don't swarm and they usually won't attack, even if their nests are threatened.

dawn@sltrib.com