David Green said:

>  A new round of aerial applications for mosquitoes is already underway,
>  or being planned in many areas of the eastern US.  Unfortunately many
>  beekeepers and many of our bee officials will follow right along like bleating
>  sheep, covering their hives, and their butts, and not deal with the real issue...

Such a hostile and adversarial approach will do nothing to prevent the negative
impact of spraying, and will only harm the perception of beekeepers
as "reasonable and responsible steward of the environment".  There is no
reason to demonize those involved.

These people need HELP, not confrontation.  The problems that result in
errors in spraying are complex and many:

a)  Such spraying programs are thrown together from ad-hoc resources
     by people who most often have never worked together before.  Most
     commonly, a State health department orders the spraying, and the
     plan is implemented by the Air National Guard.

b)  Neither group knows much about spraying insecticides.  Both groups
     could use some expertise, some oversight, and some sage-like advice.
     They certainly are not going to look for help from any group that comes
     off as "foaming-at-the-mouth" opponents to spraying in any form.

c)  To be blunt, the Air National Guard may look more at weather conditions
     and equipment/staff availability than at the insecticide label.  Some of the
     Air National Guard pilots are not willing to take the additional risk of flying
     low-level spray runs at dusk or at night.  Further, these men and women
     are "weekend warriors", and may be under time constraints to "finish" in
     a specific timeframe.

d)  The media loves this stuff.  Every bird and horse found dead is cause for
     another news story.  The "West Nile Virus", while killing only 9 people
     since 1985, seems to be a cause for over-reaction amongst both the
     public and public health officials.

All of the above can lead to daytime spraying.  Since the overriding concern
is "public health", and the situation is most often described as "an emergency",
the initial reaction to any but the most well-reasoned approaches to concerns
about environmental impact may be "go away".

How to insure that spraying is done correctly?  GET INVOLVED, at least
as a pro-bono consultant.  Understand that there is zero continuity between
"this time" and "last time", so SOMEONE has to educate people who may
have never sprayed anything before, and will have to provide the continuity.

Waiting on the ground with a video camera is far too little, far too late.

If any beekeepers reading this are also Air National Guard officers, perhaps
they could make us aware of the State-level chain of command for each
state.  While it may be difficult to break through the barrier of PR flacks
at the health department, I have found that military folks are amazingly
accessible, open to input, and responsive if one knows the name and
phone number of the correct officer.  Hey, its their planet too.

        jim

        farmageddon