From: Bob Hooker
Subject: Honey Bees

 
I am writing to you as a beekeeper, many of you know that I am a beekeeper and Vice President of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association, to seek your help in a matter of deep concern to me and beekeepers across Ohio.  The Ohio Department of Agriculture plans to make cuts to their Apiary (Beekeeping) Regulatory Program this summer.  The Ohio State Beekeepers’ Association (OSBA) believes this is a mistake and endangers the beekeeping industry in Ohio.  We are mounting a letter writing campaign to protest the cuts.  However with only about 4,000 beekeepers in Ohio we fear we cannot generate enough letters by ourselves to make a difference.  We need the help of everyone concerned about honey bees and their contribution to our food supply and our environment.  Many of you, concerned by the media coverage of the threats to honey bees, have asked, “how are the bees, Is there anything the average person can do to help?”  Yes there is.  You can contact the Governor and the Director of Agriculture and ask them to rescind ODA’s plan to cut the Apiary Program this summer. 
 
I am providing below contact information for the Governor and The Director of Agriculture along with the text of a suggested message you may use.  You can simply copy the text of the message to your clipboard and then into your e-mail or word processor, if you choose to write a letter, add your name, etc.  If you wish to edit the message fill free to do so.  I am including the text of a Briefing Paper on the proposed cuts and The OSBA’s reasons for opposing them if you want more information. If you have comments or questions don’t hesitate to contact me.
 
Thank You,
Bob Hooker
Member:  LCBA, OSBA, OEFFA
 

ODA Plan to Cut Apiary Program Is A Threat to Honey Bees in Ohio
A Briefing Paper
The honey bee, essential to crop pollination and a healthy environment, is threatened by planned cuts to the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s (ODA) Apiary Program.  Honey bees not only produce honey, they are essential for the pollination of over 90 food and forage crops.  One third of our food supply, or every third bite you take, depends on honey bee pollination.  The USDA estimates the value of honey bee pollination to U.S. agriculture to be in excess of 14 billion dollars annually. A 2005 Ohio Department of Agriculture report estimates the value of honey bee pollination to Ohio agriculture to be 44 million dollars annually.
Mounting threats to the honey bee such as parasitic mites, diseases and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has received much publicity in the past year, have endangered the honey bee and the beekeeping industry in Ohio and around the world.  The ODA Apiary Program has worked to protect the honey bee in Ohio since 1905 through a program of inspection and regulation.  However, a series of cuts in the Apiary Program over the past decade has reduced the trained apiary staff within the ODA from a total of six to one, a level of staffing that is barely adequate to maintain an effective program.
Due to the budgetary crisis and the need to cut expenditures, the ODA plans to reduce the apiary program even farther this summer.  The sole trained and experienced apiculturist (beekeeper) responsible for supervising the apiary program will be eliminated and his inspection duties will be assigned to plant inspectors within the plant pest program.  These hastily trained persons with little or no prior experience as beekeepers will be expected to fulfill the responsibilities of a state bee inspector while dividing their time between their duties as plant inspectors and bee inspectors.  The ODA maintains that their plans are adequate to protect the honey bee industry in Ohio.
The Ohio State Beekeepers’ Association (OSBA) disagrees.  To be effective the apiary program requires a trained, experienced apiculturist in a supervisory capacity not just to maintain the bee inspection program but to advise the ODA on issues affecting honey bees in Ohio and to represent the state of Ohio in critical cooperation and collaboration with other states and federal agencies to protect the beekeeping industry.  If the ODA implements these reductions in staff as they plan to do this summer we feel that the safety net that has helped to protect the honey bee in Ohio since 1905 will collapse.  These cuts would jeopardize the honey bee population in Ohio, an essential natural resource, and would in turn jeopardize Ohio’s agricultural production, Ohio’s environment and Ohio’s economy.  Please contact the Director of the Department of Agriculture and the Governor to urge them not to make these cuts to this essential program.      
 
 
HOW TO RESPOND
We ask that you contact both the Governor and the Director of Agriculture, but messages to the governor are most important at this point if you contact only one person contact the governor.
 
Below is a sample message you can send to both the Governor and the Director.  You may edit this message if you like but please include the critical points in the message below.  The brief statement on the reverse side may inform your remarks if you wish to edit the message below.
 
TO CONTACT THE GOVERNOR
BY MAIL    Governor's Office                                        PHONE/FAX                            
      Riffe Center, 30th Floor                               Phone: (614) 466-3555
      77 South High Street                                   Fax: (614) 466-9354
                  Columbus, OH 43215-6108
 
BY E-MAIL  
Send the e-mail from your usual regular e-mail program to:  jesse.taylor@governor.ohio.gov 
Or you may click on this link www.governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=448 <http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=448>  
or enter this address, governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=448 , into the address line of your
                        Internet browser and use the e-mail form you find there to send your message.
 
TO CONTACT THE DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE
BY MAIL   Director Robert Boggs                      BY PHONE  614-728-6373          BY E-MAIL
     Ohio Department of Agriculture         Apiary  Section                         administration@agri.ohio.gov
                 8995 E. Main St.
                 Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

SAMPLE MESSAGE
I am writing to protest the proposed cuts in the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Apiary Program.  The honey bee is a precious resource essential to the health of the environment and Ohio agriculture.  One third of our food supply is dependent on honey bee pollination.  Honey bees are not just important to commercial agriculture in Ohio the presence of honey bee colonies in thousands of locations across the state increases the productivity of the gardens and orchards of millions of Ohio gardeners and landowners.  We have taken the honey bees for granted, assuming they would always be available when needed to pollinate our crops and our gardens. The sudden and unexpected appearance of CCD last spring dramatically illustrated that the threats to the honey bee are real and the loss of our honey bees would have serious consequences for Ohio’s environment, Ohio’s agriculture and Ohio’s economy.  The ODA’s Apiary Program has worked to protect the health of the honey bee in Ohio since 1905.  Cuts in the Apiary Program over the last decade however have reduced the staff of the apiary program to the barest minimum level necessary to adequately do the job.  Yet the ODA plans to eliminate that supervisory staff person and replace him with persons from other programs within ODA who would be compelled to divide their time between their current duties as plant pest inspectors and their new duties as state bee inspectors.  ODA’s plan to reduce the apiary program staff to hastily trained, inexperienced, part-time inspectors is not adequate to protect the health of the beekeeping industry in Ohio.  I understand that the state of Ohio faces a budget crisis that requires reductions in spending.  However to make further cuts in the apiary program in the face of so many serious threats to the honey bee and the beekeeping industry is a mistake.  I urge you to rescind the proposed cuts to the apiary program. Thank you.
 
(Place your name and address and phone number here if you write or send the e-mail from your server