I am hoping that someone here can offer some advise.

We (SBBA.ORG) are in Santa Barbara, and now approximately 125 backyard beekeepers.

Our Mission Statement is:
The Santa Barbara Beekeeper's Association is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of beekeeping through best management practices, the education and mentoring of people about honey bees and beekeeping, and increasing public awareness of environmental concerns affecting honey bees.

Last month we were notified by our County Ag Commissioner that CA Dept of Food and Ag (CDFA) would be treating our citrus trees (residential backyards) with a neonic called Merit 2F (Imidacloprid) in the battle against the Asian Citrus Psyllid.
If you have followed this battle in FLA, there does not seem to have been any headway in this battle there, and it sounds like many if not all beekeepers have left.

We have asked CDFA to wait until the citrus bloom is done (just 2-3 weeks) to treat an area where 1 ACP was found, but they have disregarded this request and started treating about 400 residences there with a soil drench application of Merit 2F.

We fully understand how serious this pest is, the issues of this pest as a vector of HLB, and the implications this will have on our $1.8 Billion Citrus Industry.

We do not feel that the use of products like these are the only answer, and have put together an Alternative Treatment Program that we are trying to promote.
The USDA has even published this report:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=275704

While no HLB has been found in SB County, treatments are optional, but CDFA has not made any effort in publishing this fact. Once HLB has been found, treatments will be mandatory.

Part of our Alternative Treatment Program is to also study the effects of these treatments on our local bee populations.
I have never done anything like this, and would love to have some suggestions from this group on how best to set this up. Maybe we'll all learn a little about the effects of neonics in the process.

We have been in touch with Maryann Frazier at Penn State, and she has offered (at our cost) to test samples. Are there any other reliable testing labs that you might suggest?
What about testing protocols? Any advise would be welcome. We want to get base control) samples ASAP.

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