The West Virginia honeybee population is declining, but biologists are hopeful they can turn that around. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture said severe weather over the past year has negatively impacted bee colonies by about forty percent, but there are ways to help. The easiest thing to do is grow a garden to encourage pollination, or at the very least, let dandelions grow. In addition to making honey, bees produce beeswax and pollinate plants.