(Chelsea Update would like to thank Bob Milbrodt for the information in this story.)
This Monday, the Chelsea Kiwanis Club will host members from the area’s Kiwanis Clubs. Members from Ann Arbor, Saline, Ypsilanti and Manchester are expected to be at the meeting.
Members will hear from Chuck Colby and Conor Ryan. Colby is with Three Men and a Tenor, and Ryan is the lead in the upcoming Encore Theatre production of “Into the Wild.”
Last Monday, farmer Roger Sutherland explained to the members the importance of bees to agriculture. He has been a beekeeper since 1964, and covered some of the reasons bee populations have been decimated in the last 30-40 years.
He said these include harsher winters in the Midwest, Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder, habitat destruction, moving bee colonies back and forth from Florida and California and the Midwest, increased use of pesticides, and a mite that is resistant to insecticides.
In just the last 5 years, he said, thirty percent of the national population has perished. About a third of the food we eat depends on bees to pollinate the crops. The best solutions, he said, include banning pesticides, increasing planting of flowers and crops bees like, and starting more colonies, especially in urban areas.
The club meeting begins each Monday at 6:15 p.m. in the St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea Hospital cafeteria, and the speakers begin at about 6:45 p.m.
Everyone is invited to the club’s meetings to learn about Kiwanis.
Go to www.kiwanisclubofchelsea.org for more information.
