Actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist Morgan Freeman now goes by the moniker “Beekeeper.” The 81-year-old famous person made the decision to create a bee sanctuary on his 124-acre estate in Mississippi.

When Freeman first started beekeeping in 2014, he talked about it with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Just a few weeks prior to his appearance on the show, Freeman had started up beekeeping. He discussed his experiences with the hobby and the need of preserving wild bee populations for thriving ecosystems.

During the conversation, Freeman briefly discussed the reasons behind his decision to start beekeeping. “A determined effort is being made to reintroduce bees to the globe…We are unaware that they are, in my opinion, the cornerstone of the planet’s vegetation growth.”

26 bee hives were brought in by Freeman from Arkansas to his ranch in Mississippi. There, Freeman helps plant bee-friendly plants like clover, lavender, and magnolia trees and works to give the bees sugar and water.

Freeman continued, “They haven’t stung me yet, and I never wear a bee suit or hat.” He doesn’t intend to disturb the beehives or collect honey—he just feeds them.

The Trump Administration Lifts the Pesticide Ban That Kills Bees

For the past five years, the EPA has identified Colony Collapse Disоrder as the main factor contributing to the drop in bee populations. As a vital pollinator for plants, bees can cause a multitude of ecological and agricultural problems if their colonies continue to drop.

Bee-killing pesticide prohibitions were pushed back by the Trump Administration last October. Neonic insecticides, which have been connected globally to dwindling wild bee populations, were prohibited from being used. Insect-resistant genetically modified crops combined with these insecticides have caused a large-scale decline in bee populations.

A study that was published in the journal Science identifies pesticides, habitat loss, and parasites as the main causes of the plummeting bee populations. The global fall in bee populations will continue to have an impact on natural vegetation and agricultural products, even though there is no indication that bees will become extinct very soon.