Similarly there was alot of concern about the dearth of honeybees in western
Colorado (our tree fruit production area) this past month.  Some of it may
be due to the poor shape of bees following last year's terrible weather.
But mites are definitely involved.
 
Whitney Cranshaw
Department of Entomology
Colorado State University
Ft. Collins, CO  80523
 
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>>I have been
>> getting a lot of feedback about the lack of bees on fruit trees in
>> western Washington. I looked around myself and the problem is real.
>> Now I wonder if other parts of the world that has Varroa has the same
>> problem? We have lost many of our hobby beekeepers do to varroa and
>> they don't want to start up again. This could affect wildlife that
>> lives off of berrys and nuts. The real gold that the honeybee does
>> for man is pollenation.