>I was hoping they would maybe contact beekeepers who were reporting minimal losses in order to determine what those beekeepers methods are and pass that information on to the entire U.S. beekeeping community.

My sentiments exactly! I have long advocated for learning from people that do well rather than thinking that if I do poorly it only represents the norm. The BIP survey has little value other than creating alarming headlines for a hungry media. Those headlines do have one profound value and that is priming the pump of the fountain of funding. 

I participated for the first several years but upon reviewing my submissions I did not get a sense that someone reading it would really get any idea of how I keep bees. I have never even approached the loss levels that they report. I am not alone. There are a lot of beeks that do well year after year. They solve the problems as they arise and replicate the successful practices of others. I find little of that kind of information in the survey. 

Paul  

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html