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http://www.gopbi.com/yourmoney/poststories/bees101097.htm
 
Encephalitis battle's accidental victims: Beekeepers' colonies
 
By Michael Utley
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
 
The fight against mosquito-borne encephalitis is claiming the bee as an
unintended casualty, according to local beekeepers who fault the
insecticide sprayed.  "It kills a bee the same way it kills a mosquito,"
Leonard Fultz, president  of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers
Association, said Thursday. Bees are crucial to fruit and vegetable
farming because they pollinate the crops. "Not only are they important
to the product, but they're important to everyone who consumes the
product," Fultz added. He has about 350 beehives in citrus groves
throughout the county. Fultz said he hasn't lost any of his bees
yet, but others have complained a bout millions of bees lost, mostly in
Indian River County where about 10 beekee pers say they've been affected
by aerial spraying there.
 
Locally, beekeeper James Mendenhall says he lost 150 beehives last week
in Martin County. But county officials say they haven't done any aerial
spraying there since early September and they'd be surprised if it was
their insecticide that killed Mendenhall's bees. "Well, I'm pretty darn
sure it was the mosquito spraying," countered Menden hall, who claims
more than one million of his bees were killed. "Unfortunately, there's
nothing I can do about." Years ago, Mendenhall recalled, the state
would reimburse beekeepers for spraying-related losses, but that
program was cut. He estimates it would cost abo ut $10,000 to replace
his lost bees. Mendenhall has moved his remaining hives from Martin
County to Palm Beach County.
 
Officials are continuing their anti-mosquito spraying in Palm Beach,
Martin and St. Lucie counties. But officials say they are trying to
accommodate beekeepers and others who don't want their land sprayed.
Organic farmers, who grow their crops without the use of synthetic
chemicals, are particularly concerned about insecticide spraying. Many
of them have pro vided maps of their land to mosquito control officials.
"Many (counties) have agreed not to spray the organic farms, and some
have even agreed to recognize buffer zones around the farms," said Marty
Mesh, head of the Gainesville-based Florida Certified Organic Growers
and Consumers Inc. "Anyone who calls us gets punched into our computer"
and mosquito control agents are instructed not to spray there, said
James David, interim director of the St. Lucie County mosquito control
program.
 
However, at least one beekeeper is not comforted by that. "At this
point, we don't know how we've been affected by the spraying and, to
tell you the truth, I'm afraid to look," said Lamar Hester, general
manager of Deland-based Horace Bell Honey Co., which has beehives
located throughout So uth Florida. "We're just hoping we don't get
totally wiped out."
 
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Friday, Oct. 10, 1997.
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 þ QMPro 1.53 þ Honey is sweeter than wine. Spreads on bread better too!
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 þ QMPro 1.53 þ "Where there are fruits & nuts, there are beekeepers"