Your bees came through the storm remarkably well?  The bees are looking
quite good, hanging out the front, sassy as can be?  There's lots of
goldenrod, with asters right behind, which were basically unaffected by the
storm?  A fallen tree crushed a hive or two, but, except for the plague of
yellow jackets trying to rob the bees, you are feeling pleased that the
prospects look quite good, and at least the storm hasn't hurt you too bad in
the beekeeping realm?
 
    A secondary disaster may be in store for you and you MUST take some
forceful steps to avert it.  In a couple of weeks you may find your hives
changed into tiny, weak nucs, with only three or four frames of bees left,
too weak to go out and get their winter provisions (goldenrod & aster).  They
may have frames of chilled brood, because there are too few adult bees to
cover the brood on a cold night, and now they have to engage in carrying out
the dead, instead of productive work.  They may be too small to make a decent
cluster to insulate themselves against winter cold, and the first cold spell
will get the hive.  Or they may even have stored away poisoned pollen to
consume during the cold weather, when no fresh pollen is available.
 
   This is exactly what happened to me after Hurricane Hugo. Massive aerial
applications were made, in violation of label directions, that severely
damaged my business, and nearly wiped out wild pollinators in some areas. The
times of application were set by guesswork, rather than any actual
observations of when bees were foraging. Many of the applications were done
on warm, sunny afternoons when bees were all over goldenrod, and the bees
just dropped.
 
   There is no question that the areas where Hurricane Fran and other storms
have dropped a lot of rain are having mosquito problems.   But, insecticides
used to kill adult mosquitoes are also toxic to bees, and label directions
forbid application during the times bees are foraging.  Obedience to label
directions is required by law.
 
   The kicker is that the damage is so hard to prove afterwards, and it's
nearly impossible to collect any compensation for damage, even though it was
caused by an illegal act. Here in South Carolina, the enforcement people are
basically on the side of the applicators.  The enforcement is part of Clemson
University. The big corportations that donate to it, have bought the best
regulators money can buy.  The regulators try their best to look the other
way; they refuse to spot-check applicators; and we only get action, when a
violation practically kicks the regulators in the teeth.
 
    This means that if you want any recourse, you've got to take preventative
action.  Don't wait until you get hit.  Even if you are hit, the sprays used
for mosquitoes tend to be quick acting, and most bees never make it home.
 There may be very few dead bees at the hives, to collect for evidence.
 
    Get some fresh tapes for your camcorder and conduct a Beekeepers'
Neighborhood Watch.  Document any violations, as they happen.
 
   But first document the health and strength of your hives.  Pop the covers,
and show the bees covering ten frames and spilling over the sides.  Open up a
few and show that there are eight or nine frames of brood in each one.  This
will give a basis of comparison, if you do get hit.  Then, you'll have the
sad job of filming the difference.
 
   But bend your efforts to make sure that you don't get hit. And document
every step.  Find out who is doing applications in your area, and talk to
them.  Point out that it is a violation to apply while bees are foraging,
that there is a lot of goldenrod in bloom, and that bees WILL be foraging on
that goldenrod.  Offer to supply the applicator with a monitor hive so that
he can determine, for sure, the times that the bees are foraging.
 
   Always make clear that pesticide use is not the problem, MISUSE is the
problem. Applications made in compliance with label directions, will not
cause significant damage to the bees.
 
   A monitor hive is a hive placed on the type of forage that will be within
the application area.  The applicator can easily pull up to the hive(s) and
watch them from a closed vehicle.  Goldenrod pollen is distinctive and easily
spotted from this moderate and safe distance.  You probably can set the hive
somewhere right near the airport, so the applicator need only take a couple
minutes to see if the bees are still working.
 
   It's likely that he will refuse the monitor hive.  But document that you
offered.  Let him know that you will be out with a camcorder, recording
applications, and he has nothing to worry about, if he KNOWS that bees are
not foraging at the time of application.
 
   He may try to get YOU to protect the bees.  Point out that if he obeys the
label, no further protection is necessary.  Is this his statement of  intent
to ignore the label?
If he unwittingly misuses a pesticide, it is a violation, but wilful misuse
makes it a criminal act, and he could be prosecuted.  (And your discussion
with him now is evidence that he is aware of the label directions, and
perhaps has stated his intention to ignore them.)
 
   Also point out that the label refers to bees in general, not just those
that are kept.  Demanding that the beekeeper protect the bees, will not
protect other pollinators.
 
   Furthermore, the demand that you protect the bees, is a seizure of your
property, without compensation, in violation of your civil rights.  If you
are a commercial beekeeper, you may have to travel, hire labor, etc.  And, if
there are trees down, you may not even be able to get to your bees.  You may
have multiple sites endangered at the same time.
 
   Even if you are a backyard hobbyist, you'll have to take time off from
work to "protect" your bees.  (Read the Bill of Rights, which protects
citizens from such government seizures.)  It is the applicators legal
responsibility to comply with the label.
 
   I have heard that North Carolina has an officially sanctioned system of
beekeeper notification, which circumvents the label directions.  This is NOT
legal, and should be challenged.  Individual states can make pesticide laws
stricter, but not more lenient than the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act of 1976.  They cannot do an "end run" around the label
directions.
 
   After making sure your applicator knows the ropes, you may be a bit safer.
 But I've had many an applicator tell me they will obey the rules, and never
give it another thought.
 
    So get out and do some monitoring yourself!  Nighttime applications are
not going to bother the bees, the materials used are not residual enought to
have much effect on bees by the next day.  Also, some blossoms may be closed.
 It is during the day, that you must be alert.  If you see an application in
progress, and bees are working, get the spraying filmed.  Then immediately
show bees foraging on goldenrod, or other flowers within the area that the
application is being done.  Record time and date, which can be done on most
cameras.  Get witnesses, if you can.
 
   Then call your pesticide regulators and report a suspected violation.
 Remember, it is only a "suspected" violation, until you ascertain that the
material has the bee-protection label directions.  It's possible the
applicator could be spraying a mosquito larvicide, or even a cotton
defoliant, either of which would not hurt bees, nor have label directions for
bee protection.  Many of us never report anything until there is a bee-kill,
and often not then because we've gotten cynical about the paper shuffling and
lack of action.  In this case, you are not reporting a bee-kill, you are
reporting a label violation.  It is irrelevant whether you have your own bees
nearby; you have established that there ARE bees.  And by protecting all
bees, you'll protect your own.
 
    You need to get general documentation, every chance you get, of the
patterns of foraging times.  Right now, here in South Carolina, they nights
have been cool, with heavy dews, and bees don't get out much in the morning.
 By noon they are really hitting it, and they will continue until the late
afternoon chill starts.  Goldenrod is just coming to the peak time; it should
be at peak by the first of the week. In another two or three weeks we'll be
due for a frost, then it will be mostly asters for forage.  They are quite
frost resistant.
 
   I am going to do all I can to help inform and press for compliance with
label directions, but it is going to require more beekeepers to be involved,
to keep some areas of this storm zone from becoming barren of ALL
pollinators, as it did here in South Carolina.  Bumblebee populations in some
areas went down to near zero, and are just showing some recovery now, after
seven years!  Of course cotton has come back, and misuse on cotton is another
threat to them.
 
   It took me several years to build back my hive count.  I had a lot of
equipment lost as well, because the following year, I had no bees to fill my
equipment.  Comb was eaten by wax worm, or dried out to the point where bees
just wouldn't use it.
 
   We beekeepers are providing a public service, just by being present.  And
if we do contract pollination by design, we are intensifying that service.
 We help feed wildlife as well.  I am proud of my work.  I refuse to be
dumped on any longer.
 
    Will you get involved?
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554
 
Practical Pollination Home Page            Dave & Janice Green
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