DH>From: David Hinz <[log in to unmask]> >Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 20:56:56 -0700 >Subject: Re: Tucson Bee Lab Closure DH>I began my beekeeping interests in Tucson as a biology student at the >University of Arizona. The staff that I met at the bee lab are first >class. Considering the logistics of insect migrations and disease, I think >a laboratory on the desert frontier is essential for the security of our >nation. Well, David, I agree with you about the personal at least the one's I have ever had the opportunity to work or meet with in the past from Hamilton to Levin. As far as the "essential" and having a "desert" lab I would say that if it had been built in an area like Central California or Northern California it would not be closing today as it would have had several billion dollars worth of farm crop support from farmers who depend on bees for crop pollination plus the largest and most active group of commercial and hobby beekeepers and in the spring a large percentage of all the bees on wheels in the United States who take part in one of the great wonders of the agricultural world, the movement of 800,000+- hives of bees to pollinate 400,000+- acres of almond trees. Plus a direct connection to several of the best agricultural higher education institutions in the world and many other universities and numerous private, and many other government agricultural research labs of many flavors most of which are also closing now. I had a home in Arizona myself and my X wife is a UA alumnus and still sits on several agricultural committee's and boards dealing with fed-state extension as I have at the UC Berkeley representing beekeeping industry interests long ago to the regents and university president and know how good the UA and UC are, just is case some will say I am writing from the shallow prospective of a un-informed California beekeeper. Water over the falls now, but then it was a political decision to build the bee lab in Tucson which has never been 100% utilized for bee research and now it is a political decision to close it, one with little hope of change by the beekeepers. I never worked at the lab, but spent much time with the people there from day one and at other times doing much jawing and much library research of my own. It was a good place for near retirement USDA personal to set up their new homes outside of the snow belt before retirement and a surprising number of them now live in the area including a few old time bee keepers at Green Valley. Kind of a perk within the USDA system and not one that necessarily gave us the best bang for our buck from its leadership with retirement on their minds. Many beekeepers got more then tired at hearing year after year at annual beekeeping meeting from upper echelon USDA bee scientists of reorganization plans and seeing boring charts of the science of the structure of the USDA research command with the name and command changes when they had real bee problems in their bee hives at home they had to live with every day, including annual death loss the was growing every year for less then 10% in the 50's to 50%+- in the 90's. PMS, now bPMS is typical of the so called BeeScience work product output by the USDA. Anyone in the interested public who stands back and looks closely can see that over the years the USDA has spent more time renaming reoccurring bee problems that they could not find viable explanations for then providing solutions other then the annual carrot always held out to the bee industry to keep them interested, such as the new natural approach to bee pests, which is not new and may not be so natural. It is my personal observation that outside of the beekeeping and farm organizations with their paid managers there is not enough grass roots beekeeper support anymore for bee research in the US. I believe this is somewhat a back lash for the bee quarantine mentality of the USDA Bee Research leadership and the destruction of the lives of some innocent beekeepers who were found with so called pests through no fault of their own, and the total quit, a real silent spring, from the USDA bee research personal at all levels, many who knew better at the time and stood by and watched if not acting as cheer leaders. The fact is that USDA bee research appears to be more bee regulatory and big chemical business orientated then a problem solving research organization for the common everyday variety bee problem and their keepers. No so when it comes to helping chemical companies, and one lucky chemical company with the help of the USDA has managed to in a short time to get into the beekeepers pockets to a greater extent then any manufactures of new beekeeping equipment. In no small part responsible for the near depression in the beekeeping equipment manufacturing business. Reference the placing of the bee industry on the "farm chemical merry go around" and the necessity of the USDA now begging the same beekeepers to find bee stock that has never been treated with the "approved" chemicals which is in direct opposition to the best advice they have been putting out. Then if you were a Hawaiian beekeeper and believed the same USDA bee research people sold out cheep your interests in healthy bees to a foreign interest would you give anything more then lip service to keeping the same so called Bee Research system going? ttul Andy- (c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk. --- ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ I Love HONEY! I Love HONEY! I Love HONEY! I Love U HONEY!