To: All interested parties From: Larry Connor, Wicwas Press Re: Industry response to plan to close Tucson Bee Lab The following letter was sent to all members of the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture appropriations Subcommittees on 28 May 1996. The final letter was prepared by Mary Kay Thatcher of the American Farm Bureau. 202 484-3604 fax. Since most of these people involved in the preparation of this letter are not internet users, I feel it is important to post this letter on the B-List. Letter to House and Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommunities The undersigned organizations, representing the entire honey bee industry as well as a vast majority of farmers who need bees for pollination, wish to bring to your attention the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service proposal to close the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. There are several reasons why we believe this is not in the best interests of beekeepers or of factors dependent on bees for pollination. The research needs facing the bee industry have never been greater. Mite problems continue to plague beekeepers. Heavy loss of colonies continues at an alarming rate, despite treatment. The continued migration of the Africanized Honey Bee will cause more beekeepers to experience problems while posing significant public health problems as Africanized bees and humans interact. Their impact on pollination is still not clear. Other serious problems include chalkbrood and foulbrood, wax moth and viral bee diseases, The Carl Hayden Center is important because its strategic location in the desert allows researchers to conduct year-round activities on bee and pollination problems. The Center recently developed a public education program to assist pest control officials remove the growing number of unwanted and potentially dangerous Africanized honey bee swarms, The Center was the first ARS facility to have a home page on the World Wide Web, which currently serves 13,000 customer requests per week for information on bees. Earlier this month, the Center's home page won the Secretary's Award. for public service. The Tucson Center is ranked by the ARS as its second most productive bee lab and among the most productive of all ARS laboratories. We understand the budgetary realities that you must address. We want to assist you in meeting those goals and believe this can be accomplished while maintaining a strong research program to address honey bee and pollination problems. Included in this, is transferring wild bee research programs from the ARS facility in Logan, Utah to other ARS laboratories. Additional budget savings, if necessary, should be accomplished by seeking the input from ARS customers-beekeepers and pollination users. While we understand the financial constraints imposed upon ARS, we believe alternatives are available that minimize the impact to ARS' total bee research program. Closing the Tucson lab will have a significant, negative impact on bee research in the U.S. Thank you for considering our views. American Beekeeping Federation American Farm Bureau Federation American Honey Producers Association International Apple Institute United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association Western Growers Association