Save the Bees

[Guest guest]

Save the Bees

sfbayoil-

 

 

[i'm forwarding this to people I know in California who may care about

the welfare of the bees, which -- as you may be aware -- are generally

dying in droves all across the world from Colony Collapse Disorder.

While I am sympathetic to the mandarin orange growers (see below),

their proposed bill is far too aggressive and ignores the need to

protect/foster populations of our most important pollinator.

 

Please take a moment to read this over and send an email letting the

California Department of Food and Agriculture that you oppose this

legislation.]

 

==========

 

In the next few days, the California Sec. of Agriculture is going to

be making a decision on AB771, which would ban the presence of

honeybees (!) from large areas of agricultural land. The details about

this are below.

 

We need as many of you as possible, today and Friday, to email

Secretary AG Kawamura and ask him to oppose AB771 and support the well-

being of our dwindling honeybees.

 

How you can help:

 

1) Cut and paste the following message in an email and send it to Sec.

Kawamura at (akawamura ).

 

" Dear Secretary Kawamura,

AB771 is a proposed law formulated to protect the plantings of growers

of seedless citrus crops. The growers have realized, too late, that

their fruit will contain seeds if honey bees forage on their trees,

and so they have asked the state legislature to forbid the presence of

honeybees within a two-mile radius of any 6 acre parcel of their

orchard. This means potentially banning bees from 8,000 acres of land

to protect any 6 acre orchard.

At a time when honey bees are suffering from loss of habitat and from

ensuing malnutrition, among other ailments, this is absolutely

incredible and unconscionable! Our State has suffered massive deaths

among honeybees due to Colony Collapse Disorder. This is contributing

to what is bound to be one of the greatest environmental crises of our

time: the loss of pollinators.

If this ruling is allowed to pass, citrus growers will be placing the

burden of ensuring that they make a greater financial profit from

their crops onto all the other people that live and work around their

orchards.

As a California citizen and taxpayer, I am asking you to oppose AB771,

which is privileging a special interest group over the needs of the

larger agricultural community and all the citizens of our state. Save

our honeybees!

Sincerely,

(name) "

 

2) Please pass this message along to all your friends and family.

 

Thank you!

Rick Loftus, M.D.

 

------------------

 

Serge Labesque <labesque_serge@ >

Seedless mandarin growers vs. honey bees / Urgent and

important / Your help is needed

" Tim Muhrlin " <gldng8boys >

Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 11:21 PM

 

I just came back from a meeting of the Seedless Mandarin and Honey Bee

Coexistence Workgourp, in Sacramento, today. The news is dismal.

 

If there ever was a time for you to get involved, this is it!

Please make a point of letting CDFA know your opposition to AB771

before the week's end. It is really urgent!

A word, a line, a letter, anything that will let the State Secretary

of Agriculture know that you object to the unbelievable move by large

citrus growers to forbid or reduce access to some areas in the state

that are most important for the health of honeybees.

 

Here is a little background:

Citrus growers can generate much greater financial gains by planting

varieties of mandarin oranges that can produce seedless fruit. So,

they planted these in large numbers in recent years. Nothing wrong

here, except that they did this without taking the proper precautions

to ensure that the fruit be seedless (these are essentially to either

plant varieties that can spontaneously produce seedless fruit or by

assuring the presence of buffer zones around these orchards in order

to prevent cross pollination by compatible pollen from other citrus

varieties).

When they realized that their fruit contained seeds because honey bees

foraged on their trees, they asked the state legislature to forbid the

presence of honeybees within a two-mile radius of any 6 acre parcel of

their orchard. This means potentially banning bees from 8,000 acres

of land to protect any 6 acre orchard.

At a time when honey bees are suffering from loss of habitat and from

ensueing malnutrition, among other ailments, this is absolutely

incredible and unconscionable! And this is contributing to what is

bound to be one of the greatest environmental crises of our time: the

loss of pollinators.

urthermore, if this ruling is allowed to pass, citrus growers will be

placing the burden of ensuring that they make a greater financial

profit from their crops onto all the other people that live and work

around their orchards.

Our legislators should protect the rights and freedom of individuals.

In this case, they washed their hands of the issue and turned the

decision over to a workgroup that shows no sign of coming to any

compromise. So, ultimately the decision will be made by the State

Secretary of Agriculture. This will be done within just a few days.

 

Of course, citrus growers have the right to plant whatever variety of

mandarin oranges they want to on their land. But their revenue must

be generated in a responsible manner. This can be done by netting the

trees or by strategically placing the orchards, for example. This has

to be done at their cost.

The rights and freedom of others who live and work around their

orchards should not be affected. They should still not be prevented

from having bees on their land.

 

Again, please write without delay to the State Secretary of

Agriculture to say that you oppose AB771. Beekeepers should be

allowed to have bees in these areas that are crucial to bee health, as

they have traditionally done for decades

 

Also, forward this email to as many of your friends as possible.

This is urgent, as the State Secretary of Agriculture will make a

determination in the next few days.

This is important, as the functioning of our ecosystem, including our

food supply, depends on honey bees and other pollinators.

 

Here is the address of the CDFA:

 

A. G. Kawamura, Secretary

California Department of Food and Agriculture

1220 N Street, Suite A-400

Sacramento, CA 95814

 

His email: akawamura

 

Thank you.