) where in the US would ou find a pesticide free area that would also maintain 24 hives over a season,
That is a common misconception, there are many areas of bee flight that are people and pesticide free. One just needs to look a bit. Simple ones close to me, Shawnee national forest, Mark twain. Or Danielle Boone forest are close, and much of the Ozarks. Many states would have huge tracts like that, one just need to look a bit.
Found this tidbit while looking for something else....From Randys site.
One problem with studying comb contamination is the variability of results from different analytical labs (Bogdanov, et al. 2003). As Jerry Bromenshenk has pointed out, any studies of pesticide residues should include blind field-spiked samples. That said, the buildup of some acaricides in combs has been well documented (Bogdanov 1998; Wallner 1999; reviewed in Mutinelli & Baggio 2004). Fries, et al. (1998) clearly found that coumaphos residues in combs had strong effects on mite mortality, fluvalinate less so, and amitraz nearly none. Once a brood cycle had taken place in the combs, the effects disappeared, presumably due to the barrier of the new cocoon. This study dealt with effects upon mites, but might be extrapolated for effects upon bees.
A number of researchers have been, and are, concerned about this acaricide buildup. Liu (1992) was one of the first. He warned, “furthermore, the stable, long lasting residue of fluvalinate in the comb wax may exert its action on the developmental stages of the honey bees. It is known that 1-day-old larvae are particularly susceptible to fluvalinate poison.” The manufacturer of Apistan points out, however, that while fluvalinate can accumulate in the wax, it is bound in the wax, thereby reducing the bioavailability of fluvalinate (pers. comm).
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