Description:
The Western Apicultural Society (WAS) has scheduled its annual conference in Salem, OR, from the evening of Monday, Aug. 30th, through the evening of Thursday, Sept. 2nd, 2010. The conference will take place in the Red Lion Hotel, 3301 Market Street, in Salem. You can reserve a room at the special “WAS Honey Bee Meeting” rate, but only until the rooms are sold out. This could happen soon, since other groups are meeting in the same vicinity at the same time. The toll-free number is 1-800-248-6273. If you prefer to deal directly with the hotel, call 503-370-7888.

WAS President Dewey Caron has teamed with Extension Apiculturist Ramesh Sagili and members of local bee clubs to schedule a number of interesting speakers and tours to make this a memorable confer-ence. Talks by Mike Burgett (well known to most WAS members), Mike Weber (Oregon seed grower), Sonny Ramaswamy (dean of the College of Ag), Sue Cobey (UC Davis honey bee facility supervisor), and Mace Vaughan (conservation specialist) will fill out Tuesday morning. Lunch and afternoon are unscheduled.

Wednesday, there will be a morning whirlwind tour of the Oregon State Univer-sity bee lab, a commercial beekeeping oper-ation and one more stop before lunch on the Salem Riverfront. Or, you can attend an intermediate level short course on small scale beekeeping with Larry Connor. After lunch Harry Vanderpool, Eric Mussen, Kim Flottum, and Ann Harman will discuss nuc management, hints for backyard beekeepers, a tribute to L.L. Langstroth, and value-added beekeeping, respectively. That evening Kim Flottum will talk about producing varietal and artesian honey.

Thursday, Sujaya Rao will discuss training pollination biologists, Christi Heintz will talk about bees and almonds, Gordy Wardell will relate what is being done in almond pollination by one of the world‟s largest almond growing companies, Dianna Sammataro will share research info from the USDA lab in Tucson - and that just gets us 8 to buffet lunch. That afternoon, there are mini-workshops by Larry Connor, Ann Harman, and Janet Brisson, or participants may attend presentations by Tim Lawrence (on CCD and its human dimensions) and integrated pest management specialist Morris Ostrofsky. The late afternoon speaker, Ramesh Sagili will wind up the session with a research report from OSU.

Then, we will participate in the annual awards banquet. There will be a no-host bar and an evening of engaging conversation, as well as the awards presentations.

groups.ucanr.org/WAS/