The threat of Colony Collapse Syndrome, which has already killed millions of honeybees in the United States, is extremely frightening to the people at the National Honey Board.

"On a nationwide basis, things are looking fairly bleak," said Bruce Wolk, spokesman for the Honey Board, which recently moved its headquarters from Longmont to nearby Firestone. "The 2006 statistics show national honey production down 11 percent from 2005. That's due to many factors, including the weather. But we can't ignore this new disease that's beginning to affect beehives across the United States."

In the mountain and Pacific West, however, the threat has yet to materialize. The syndrome, which first struck along the Eastern Seaboard in the late fall, had no effect on pollination of California's almond crop, the most bee-needy crop in the nation.

Colorado bees played a pivotal role in that success, Wolk said. Each year, beekeepers from throughout the West take their hives to the area where they're most needed. California almonds are the first U.S. crop to bloom, and they must be pollinated from mid-February to mid-March. Colorado beekeepers have now packed up their hives and are returning home - or heading to the next place they're needed.

"In January, we were very concerned about what might happen," said Marsha Venable, spokeswoman for the Almond Board of California. "But we didn't hear from any growers who couldn't get the bees they needed. We were able to get the 1.2 million hives it takes to pollinate the entire almond crop."

That bodes well for this year's melon crop, the Colorado crop that's most dependent on bees, Wolk said.

But it doesn't do anything to ease his mind about the future. The Honey Board has pledged $13,000 of emergency funding to fight the emerging threat, and the agency knows it's only a start.

"I know it sounds self-serving when the marketing director of the Honey Board says he's worried," Wolk said. "But all of us here are worried about a much larger problem - what we as a country, what we as a world - are doing to our environment that is making this happen."

• Whole Foods won't be taking over Wild Oats stores until the sale is final in a couple of months. Until then, Whole Foods executives will be deciding which private-label Wild Oats products to keep and which to eliminate.

If there's an item sold under the Wild Oats label that you'd like to see continued, post a comment on my blog at blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/simons/.

I'll pass your comments along to the folks at Whole Foods.

Do you have a tip on a new grocery product or trend? Contact Janet Simons at simonsj@RockyMountainNews.com, 303-954-2547