Bees Besieged

Stephen H. Morris (Randolph, VT) - "Bees Besieged" portrays the current state of honeybees and their keepers in America. Hobbyist Mares comes out to his hive one day and finds all his bees dead. His curiosity about what had befallen his bees leads to a spiraling journey to learn about what he describes as "the manifold problems facing bees generally, and their keepers." Mares is very much the observer, adopting an impartial journalistic stance as his base of knowledge grows. Occasionally, he will venture an opinion or take a stance, but mostly he is content to find the experts and let them be the storytellers. He begins in Vermont. Each interview points to a new referral, a new perspective, and another piece to the puzzle. The story becomes bigger, more complex, and more important. After a while the author is not trying to understand why his bees died, but what will happen to life on the planet if endangered pollinators become extinct. His circle widens as he travels to the District of Columbia, Texas, Louisiana, and beyond to learn about the current state of bees. It's not a pretty picture. Bees are besieged from all directions-environmental degradation, insidious mites (such as the ones that caused the author's bees to die), fluctuating honey prices, and aggressive, invasive species such as the much-ballyhooed African killer bees. It's a much larger story than just about bees and honey, as these insects play a vital role in the pollination of many agricultural crops. Threats to the bee population, therefore, are threats to the worldwide food supply. "Bees Besieged" is a must read for beekeepers, but its also for environmentalists, naturalists, and social observers.