Paul, Your photos may show more flora than you have in California, but with all due respect, I didn't see anything that would make me want to place hives in the depicted areas (even for maintenance). The butterflies may be doing fine, but what you show for bees would be the equivalent of leaving a thermos of diesel along the side of the road for a Semi. If this is all they have to work with (even miles of it), it's no wonder the beekeepers in these regions can't make a go of it. Dave Tharle Ardmore, AB *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm