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