
Amy Cripps, Publicity Chairperson, is looking for contributors and people to help post content on our Facebook page. If you are interested in doing so, "like" our Facebook page then send a Facebook message or email Amy here letting her know you would like to help.
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William Lewis
Lake View Terrace
1st Vice President
Brad Pankratz
Orland
2nd Vice President
Dion Ashurst
El Centro
Secretary/Treasurer
Carlen Jupe
Salida
Past President
John Miller
Newcastle
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Brent Ashurst
Brawley
Steve Godlin
Visalia
Russell Heitkam
Orland
Buzz Landon
Richvale
Larry Lima
Dos Palos
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Mike Harrel
Concord
Orin Johnson
Hughson
Bob Miller
Watsonville
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Public Lands: Mike Harrel
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President
Melinda Nelson Vice President
Amanda Wooten Secretary/Treasurer Ila Hohman Historian
Nora Slater Parliamentarian Sandy Tabako
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Secretary / Treasury Committee Update
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Anyone planning to attend the CSBA Board Meeting September 4, 2014 at the Hilton Arden West Sacramento Hotel, and wish to be included in the catered lunch, must RSVP to Carlen Jupe ASAP.
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Renew your CSBA Membership Today!
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It is time to renew your CSBA membership for the 2014-2015 membership year! In the Pre-Convention Information Packets there is a Membership Brochure that contains the membership sign-up form. This form, or the CSBA website is the only way to renew your membership! Early renewals are greatly appreciated!
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Fall and Winter Beekeeper Events
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British Columbia Honey Producers Association Annual Conference
more info here
14th Annual North American Pollinator Protection Campaign International Conference (NAPPC)
more info here
The Russians Are Coming: Migratory Beekeeping, Almond Pollination & Honey Production
more info here
Oregon State Beekeepers Association Conference
more info here
Colorado State Beekeepers Winter Meeting
more info here
2014 California State Beekeepers Association- 125th Annual Convention
more info here
Idaho Honey Association Meeting
more info here
The Almond Board Conference
more info here
North America Beekeeping Conference and Tradeshow (ABF)
more info here
American Honey Producers Convention and Tradeshow (AHPA)
more info here
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Cancellation of Registration of Tactic
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The EPA has issued the cancellation notice for Tactic, an agricultural formulation of amitraz widely used by commercial beekeepers to control varroa. Legally, no more production or import into the U.S is allowed effective August 6, 2014 and only existing stocks may be sold, distributed or used. Illegal smuggling from Mexico or Australia may continue, but quantity should be squeezed and illegal use may be heavily penalized.
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CSBA Sponsors
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CSBA Affiliated Clubs
Santa Maria Valley Beekeepers Association
Shasta Beekeepers Association
Click on a beekeeping club to visit their homepage
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Honey and Pollination Center
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After the release of the Honey Flavor and Aroma Wheel last week, we were flooded with requests to purchase online, and we're happy to say that it is now available!
For requests to purchase wholesale quantities (10+ wheels) please contact Kathryn McClean.
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Bill Lewis, CSBA President
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The President's Word
Fellow Beekeepers,
For those of you who have not already set aside the week of Nov. 17-21, 2014 to attend the CSBA Annual Convention, please do so today! This year's 125th Annual Convention will be hosted by the Hyatt in Valencia, CA just north of Los Angeles with easy access to the I-5 freeway and very close to the Magic Mountain Theme Park and more for those familiar with the area. Please see the full-page ad at the bottom of this issue!
We are expecting a large turn-out of attendees from all over CA and around the country. There should be plenty of interest to both those making their living keeping bees as well as a large contingent of urban beekeepers, especially from the over 1,000 members of bee associations in Los Angeles and vicinity. I encourage all attendees to spend the extra dollars to stay at the Hyatt. Avoid the hassle of the morning commute; share a room to get the cost down. I am interested in booking as many rooms as possible since our group earns 1 complimentary room for every 50 rooms booked. These complimentary rooms are used to house some of our speakers, which saves the CSBA the cost of these rooms. We are bringing in many speakers that will need these rooms so please book your room today! Convention information is being added daily to the CSBA website so check back often to get the latest updates on the program. There will be links to most of our speaker biographies.
Our September 4th CSBA board meeting is fast approaching. I encourage any CSBA member to attend these board meetings and get involved in supporting your organization. The CSBA Board of Directors is a core group of individuals that give up time out of their busy daily schedules to make the decisions that will better the beekeeping industry in CA. New blood is always welcome and encouraged. It is most important to share the burden in advancing the interests of CA beekeepers and beyond.
Work is being done to make almond orchards a safer place for bees. Your Board of Directors is working hard to communicate with almond growers and Pest Control Advisors (PCA's) to mitigate bee health problems that occurred last season during almond pollination and to avoid the same problems this coming pollination season. There will be a panel at the CSBA convention with representatives from the almond Industry, PCA's, and beekeepers affected by bee kills last year in almonds. The goal - finding a safer path for bees in almond pollination in 2015.
There are important meetings to attend to. Your CSBA President is planning to attend a follow-up meeting to the high level meeting held in Washington D.C. last March that resulted in a memorandum from President Obama in support of Honey Bee Health and Forage support systems. This USDA Forage and Nutrition Summit will also be in Washington D.C. in October. I believe Day 1 of the summit is open to the public. Day 2 will focus on working groups and will be limited to invited participants. This meeting will be followed by the 14th Annual North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Conference. I expect a number of attendees at both these meetings will be in attendance at our CSBA Convention in November. I hope to get those attendees to regurgitate information gleaned from these meetings.
I have heard news of good honey harvests in the Dakotas and the Mid-West. I hope this translates to lots of $ being spent on auction items at the CSBA Convention in support of raising $ for bee research.
Sincerely, Bill Lewis, CSBA President |
Awards Committee Update
Dear CSBA Members and Affiliated Clubs,
The California State Beekeepers Association presents awards to some of its members at the annual convention held each year in November. The members of the awards committee would like your help in selecting those persons who are deserving of special recognition at this time. Please look over these attached guidelines and application forms and submit your choices for these awards. It is through your participation in this selection process that the greatest numbers of candidates are given careful consideration! Please return these applications to me by October 15, 2014. Thank you for you help in this most important tradition for our organization
Sincerely,
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Legislature Committee Update
Access to Public Lands. AB 2185 (Eggman), is authored by Chairman of the Assembly Food and Agriculture Committee, Susan Eggman. AB 2185 directs the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to consider permitting apiculture on department wildlife areas where it is suitable with the management goals and objectives for those areas.
Since Assembly Member Doug La Malfa introduced AB 2777 in 2008, the CSBA has continued to communicate the need for additional land for bee forage to the state policy makers year-after-year. AB 2185's success can be attributed to that constant message and the teamwork of CSBA to collaborate with state agencies and seek long-term solutions to the issue. Currently, commercial beekeepers are allowed to use some federal lands, including National Forests lands, for temporary foraging. Additionally, DFW has allowed beekeepers on its lands in some limited cases. DFW does not currently have an actual policy on allowing beekeeping, commercial or otherwise, on their lands but has handled requests by beekeepers on a case-by-case-basis. This bill would declare it the policy of the state that DFW and the Department of Transportation shall encourage apiculture on the lands that those departments respectfully manage. Specifically, if either department is developing or amending land use plans, it must maximize the coexistence and minimize the conflict between apiculture and other public lands uses, values and public safety; establish an efficient, effective and uniform system for the management and administration of apiculture on the public lands and ensure that the state receives an appropriate financial return from the use of the public resources.
It is fantastic that Chairwoman Eggman has made this "public lands issue" a top priority. Having Chairwoman Eggman leading this effort, has been amazing and the catalyst that we needed to move our crusade for access to public lands forward! She is not just a concerned Agricultural Committee Chair, Eggman comes from a family of beekeepers and is wholeheartedly dedicated to our cause.
AB 2185 passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee in June (5-0) and passed out of Senate Appropriations on the 14th of August. Platinum Advisors testified on behalf of the CSBA and California Farm Bureau was also there in support. The bill is expected to be passed by the Senate before the legislative session adjourns on August 30th.
Farmers Markets- Bee Products. AB 1871 (Dickenson), revising provisions related to certified farmers markets, is expected to pass off the Senate Floor by the end of August as well. CSBA's lobbyists at Platinum Advisors negotiated language into the bill's definition of "agricultural products", which clarifies which bee products are permitted for sale. Language: (a) "Agricultural product" means a fresh or processed product produced in California, including fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, dairy, shell, eggs, honey, pollen, unprocessed bee wax, propolis, royal jelly, flowers, grains, nursery stock, livestock meats, poultry meats, rabbit meats, and fish, including shellfish that is produced under controlled conditions in waters located in California.
Depredation Permits. After two years of negotiations between CSBA leadership and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) regarding the on-going conflicts with black bears causing damage to nuc yards, DFW finally clarified and streamlined their depredation permit policies. They formally created a "trial seasonal" which directs DFW staff to respond to requests for depredation permit when notified that damage to nuc yards has occurred. It also clarifies that they consider "bees to be livestock." This is a tremendous victory for several beekeepers and nuc yards in Northern California that have been terrorized by starving bears. For more information regarding this policy or pending legislation, please contact Jackie Park-Burris.
Holly Fraumeni, Platinum Advisors
Jackie Park-Burris, Legislature Committee Chairperson
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Project Apis m. Update
July was busy for PAm as Christi Heintz and Meg Ribotto met with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to give performance reports on two grants - BMP's for beekeepers and growers and building forage resources for honey bees. Both CDFA grant managers gave PAm an A+ on what we have accomplished to date!
This month we travel to Seattle to provide Costco with an update on the WSU Germplasm Repository, BIP Tech Transfer Teams and the PAm-Costco Scholar - 3 areas that PAm nurtured and in the case of the scholar, initiated with funding from Costco.
The PAm-Costco scholar is Laura Brutscher, a microbiology PhD student at the Flenniken Bee Lab at Montanta State University. You may remember Dr. Michelle Flenniken. PAm sponsored her research in honey bees and she went on to dedicate her career to Apis mellifera. Now her student, Laura, is a bee researcher and is investigating how honey bees respond to interactions with pathogens i.e., viruses, bacteria, microsporidia and mites.
We are also helping to fund 2 other students, Kaira Wagoner (Olav Rueppell's lab at the University of NC-Greensboro) and Renata Borba (Marla Spivak's lab at the University of Minnesota).
You have to sit back and become awestruck by how PAm builds honey bee scientists!
Meg Ribotto, PAm Outreach and Pollination Programs
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