2015年10月11日日曜日

昨日は野外劇場Amphitheatre でインドの人たちのお祭りをやっていましたので、朝Symphony Lake の周りを1周ウォーキング/ジョギングするついでに寄ってみました。ステージの前に椅子がたくさん並べてあって、何人かの人たちが後片付けをしていました。看板やポスターにはMahtsavという言葉とDewali という言葉が書いてありましたが、ネットで検索してみたら、Dewali というのはディーワーリーというインドの新年のお祝いのことのようです。
遊歩道の横の繁みに赤い鳥が留まったのですぐカメラのシャッターを押しました。

昨日フランク君の家に行く途中でTryon Rd 沿いに松枯れがあるのを見つけましたので、午後からLake Johnson にウォーキング/ジョギングに行くついでに確認をしに行ってみました。樹高は1~3mの若い木ばかりですが、昨年見たのと似ていました。後でドリルを持って行って材片を採取して日本に持ち帰って、DNA診断でマツノザイセンチュウが検出できるかどうか調べてみようと思っています。昨年は同じような松枯れを見つけた時は電線の下でしたので、除草剤をかけて枯らしたのか病気で枯れたのか判断ができませんでしが、今回見つけたのは明らかに何らかの病気のようです。これがマツノザイセンチュウによる枯死だとしたら感染経路など面白いので、どういう結果になるか楽しみです。Tryon Rd 沿いにはゴルフ場が一つありますが、よく管理された芝生と大きな松の木がよくマッチしていました。
松枯れのある近くの森には私的に設置した墓標が2つありました。1つの方にはAngelo(アンジェロ)という名前の子供か子供のように可愛がっていたペットの犬かはわかりませんが、森の近くの交差点で交通事故ででも亡くなったのでしょうか。Angeloを失ったことの深い悲しみの気持ちが綴られていました。
Lake Johnson を1周ウォーキング/ジョギングしましたが、日曜の午後で天気も良かったのでボート遊びをしている人やフィッシングをしている人もいました。

サラさんの紹介でコロラド州で養蜂をやっているAl Sammers という人とメールのやりとりをするようになりました。私がアメリカでは本当にCCD(蜂群崩壊症候群)でミツバチのコロニー数がそんなに激減しているのかと質問したら、添付の資料を読んでくれと言って彼がどこかに書いて投稿した文章を送ってきました。これを見ると、騒いでいるのは一部の人たちで、職業として養蜂業をやっている人たちにとっては激減して困っているというような事実は全くないということのようです。

 An Overview of Current Beekeeping Conditions in Colorado – 2015

                   Respectfully submitted by Al Summers, Colorado Professional Beekeepers Association,                     

                                                            Director of Communications

The current state of affairs among the beekeeping community in Colorado appears to be open to interpretation, depending upon which particular demographic of beekeepers is doing the reporting.
The newer (1 to 10 years) and recreationally - oriented beekeepers have been the decided majority for many years in Colorado. Traditional numbers have been around 800 to 1,000 Statewide, however those numbers appear to be increasing as more and more “newbees” try their hands at the craft. In addition, the attrition rate for new beekeepers here has usually been in excess of 50% drop-out rate within 5 years, and appears to be continuing as a trend. New and recreational beekeepers in the State probably represent no more than 20% of the total number of bee hives being kept here.
The other significant beekeeping demographic in the State is the commercial or livelihood based producers, which include the various ancillary industries of honey packers and marketers, bee equipment suppliers, and pollination brokers. This demographic is comprised of much smaller numbers in comparison to the recreationalists. There are estimated to be around 20 to 25 commercial beekeepers in the state with another  20 or so ancillary suppliers. However, the commercial beekeeping sector represents at least 80% of the bee hives owned and managed and produces the majority of honey and pollination services provided in the State. Last year Colorado produced over one-million pounds in wholesale honey returning over two-million dollars to the economy, from an estimated 27,000 commercial bee hives.
Beekeeping in Colorado, as with most aspects of agriculture here, has been an introduced and cultivated practice. European honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not native to either the United States nor to Colorado.  They were brought to the U.S. in the 17th century by European immigrants and migrated slowly west as sustaining flowering crops were planted by settlers. In Colorado, and the Nebraska territories generally, sustainable beekeeping was not possible until settlers had planted and cultivated enough crops like Sweet Clover (Melilotus spp.) and Lucerne (Alfalfa), which occurred primarily after Colorado became a state in 1876.  Subsequent cultivation and fruit production in the 1920’s in Colorado further helped to sustain the beekeeping industry.
What many of the newer beekeepers in Colorado, particularly the recreationalists may not appreciate, is that beekeeping here has never been totally self-sustaining but rather has required periodic monitoring and management in order to be successful. And nowadays, with such stressors such as parasitic mites, viruses, changing habitat and environmental factors, good bee management practices are more important than ever.
An additional concern within the Colorado beekeeping community in recent years, primarily among the recreationalists, has been an apparently orchestrated effort to blame insecticide use for the problems that some beekeepers are experiencing. Much of this concern and the politicization of the issue seem to be coming from outside of the beekeeping community – by admittedly anti-pesticide activist groups. The problem for beekeepers in adopting these recommendations however, is that they do not address the practical aspects of what beekeepers need to be doing in order to remain viable and in some cases could well result in the functional demise of commercial beekeeping, which in Colorado accounts for over 80% of the honey and pollination services.
Successful and particularly the heritage beekeepers of Colorado have always had to contend with pesticide use but they have usually found ways to not only survive but thrive as members of the larger agricultural community. The current pesticide use landscape in Colorado is considerably safer and more manageable than just 20 years ago. The way that commercial beekeepers have traditionally dealt with pesticide issues (both in the hive and environmentally) is through applying good Integrated Pest Management practices. What many of the activists and recreational beekeepers propose, which is to adopt a precautionary principle with pesticide use, goes against the previous 138 years of beekeeping tradition in Colorado - applying good risk management practices - and is not only impractical for beekeepers but for the rest of the agricultural and stake holder community as well.
In conclusion, the current state of the beekeeping industry and community in Colorado is as successful and robust as is the level of conscientiousness that beekeepers apply in managing their hives. The examples of Colorado’s heritage beekeeping families prove that. Those who do not monitor and intervene when problems arise are almost certainly assured to have problems and eventually dead hives.
Most livelihood-directed beekeepers realize that in order for beekeeping to be successful, we have to see ourselves as cooperating members of the larger agricultural and stake holder communities. Agitating for bans and boycotts of not only pesticides but against the growers and regulatory agencies that are responsible for helping to sustain our industry is not only counterproductive but dysfunctional as well.

Lake Johnson から帰ってきて、モーテルの部屋で空手着に着替えて30分ぐらい空手の稽古をしました。昨夜は寝ている時に両脚の太腿の筋肉が何回も攣ってしまい、その都度起き上がってマッサージをしたり筋を伸ばしたりして治しましたが、久しぶりに横蹴りや廻し蹴りの稽古をしたためだと思います。稽古の後でシャワーを浴びたら、サウスカロライナ州での従妹の葬儀に参列してノースカロライナ州に車を運転して帰る途中のマージーさんから携帯にテキストでメッセージが届きました。インディアナ州から私に会いにくるために車を運転している筈のドン君と連絡がとれなくなって心配していたら、どうもケンタッキー州辺りの警察に保護(逮捕?)されているかもしれないとのことでした。彼もいろいろな病気をかかえて薬をたくさん飲んでいるので、薬の副作用で気を失うこともあったようですので、心配です。もう少ししたら多分マージーさんが到着してモーテルに来るでしょうから、詳しい様子がわかるかもしれません。インディアナ州からノースカロライナ州へは大変な距離ですので、今の彼の体調では一人での運転は無理だったのかもしれません。