Aaron said: >> My advice to West Virginia is to get organized NOW >> to retain your inspection program! In reply to Russ, who reported: > This resulted in beekeepers losing hive treatments for > mites, part-time inspectors and reduction in travel by > George Clutter and Paul Poling our state inspectors. A word of caution. You are not going to be able to "retain" everything. Further cuts will have to be acknowledge as "prudent, under the circumstances". To not admit this would undercut your credibility, and leave you dismissed as a "special-interest group", unable to compromise. A state bee program that was even providing free mite treatments is clearly one that was spending more money than would be prudent under the triple whammy of reduced tax income due to the ongoing economic downturn, reduced federal money available to the states, and increased numbers of "unfunded mandates" (Federal regulations that force action by states, but do not provide Federal funding to cover the expenses). Beekeepers are clearly a "special interest group", and without a thriving set of pollination customers to complain that bee inspection and extension services are mission-critical to THEIR crops, they are the sole voice to explain their plight. Here in Virginia, we have no one dedicated to bees, but do have excellent inspectors who are jacks of all trades, dealing with all sorts of agricultural issues "in the field". Even our State Apiarist has a multi-purpose title - he is the "State Apiarist" and the "Endangered Species Coordinator", a juxtaposition of roles that I find eerily amusing, if not highly appropriate. States have to cut costs, and without a forceful presentation of the downside to not spending money on "bee inspection" and "bee extension programs", states can and will decide to eliminate such programs rather than further cut funding to programs that are viewed as helping more citizens. Encouraging beekeepers to join their local associations (or at least inform them that they are still keeping bees) helps. I have never spoken with any elected official or government employee without being asked "how many beekeepers are there in my voting district?", or how many beekeepers are there in the state?" Clearly, numbers matter, as votes tend to be the lingua franca of government. So, ask yourself: How many beekeepers are there, by county, and in the state? Consider it a "survey". Maybe the supply companies that mail out catalogs can contribute counts of how many catalogs they send to each zip code. How many growers are pollination customers? The state agricultural people may even have already mapped farms by crops grown, allowing you to go down the list, and count growers of crops that are frequently pollinated. This makes your number of "affected people" larger. How many people have home GARDENS? Now the numbers are getting huge, and while there is no way to map each and every home veggie garden, one can certainly estimate by looking at the number of people getting seed catalogs, the sales tax revenues from "garden centers", etc. By the time you are done, your state beekeeper association can end up "representing the interests of" a significant fraction of the voting public. This really, really matters to those who make such decisions, as they never know which issue might blow up in their faces when they mess with funding. So stop being "just a beekeeper", and start thinking like a "steward of the land". You are one, even if you never thought about it. Bees and other pollinating insects are the canaries in the coal mine (a metaphor that cannot be stressed enough in a state like West Virginia!), and some level of state involvement is a very good idea if they want to keep their agricultural system intact. You might end up with nothing more than the part-time efforts of the pesticide enforcement department "also inspecting bees", and you might end up with a situation that is much less beekeeper-responsive than your current program, but you need to preserve SOMETHING, while being willing to allow some reduction in services. The economy certainly will recover at some point. The only trick is to keep a foot in the door for the duration, even if it is nothing more than someone having a "State Apiarist" title, no field staff, and nothing but referrals on sending samples to other places for post-mortem inspections. jim (Most people have a nine to five workday. Beekeepers have a ninety hive workday.) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::