CONSIDERING HONEY BEES PROVIDE ESSENTIAL POLLINATION SERVICES FOR MANY US CROPS, CONSISTENT COLONY WINTER LOSS RATES OF 30% OVER THE PAST DECADE HAVE REAL IMPLICATIONS FOR PRODUCERS OF HONEY BEE RELIANT CROPS, AS WELL AS THE APICULTURE INDUSTRY. THE PARASITIC MITE VARROA DESTRUCTOR, AND THE VIRUSES IT TRANSMITS, IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF COLONY MORTALITY IN THE US. INCREASINGLY, BEEKEEPERS ARE REPORTING DIFFICULTY MANAGING VARROA POPULATIONS. WHILE SOME OF THIS DIFFICULTY IS THE RESULT OF DECREASING EFFICACY OF VARROACIDES, PRELIMINARY DATA SUGGESTS THAT VARROA TRANSMISSION BETWEEN COLONIES AND APIARIES IS ALSO A FACTOR. OF PARTICULAR CONCERN ARE THE 52% OF BEEKEEPERS WHO REPORT NOT USING KNOWN VARROACIDE TREATMENTS TO CONTROL MITE POPULATIONS. DATA FROM LONGITUDINAL MONITORING OF COLONIES IN SENTINEL APIARIES OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS SUGGEST THAT WHEN COLONIES MANAGED BY THESE NON- TREATMENT BEEKEEPERS DIE, THEIR BEES AND MITES EMIGRATE TO NEW COLONIES AS FAR AS 3 KM AWAY. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO QUANTIFY THE RATE OF BEE EMIGRATION BETWEEN COLONIES AND APIARIES, UNDER NORMAL AND HIGH MITE LOAD CONDITIONS. WE PROPOSE TO QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF BEE EMIGRATION ON INDIVIDUAL BEE HEALTH AS WELL MONITOR THE DOWNSTREAM CONSEQUENCES ON COLONY HEALTH. FURTHER, USING EXTENSIVE APIARY INSPECTION RECORDS, WE WILL IDENTIFY APIARY LEVEL RISK FACTORS THAT CORRELATE WITH HIGHER OR LOWER MITE LEVELS. RESULTS FROM THESE STUDIES WILL HELP HONE CURRENT BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES WITH SPECIFIC DATA-DERIVED RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE MITE PRESSURE AT THE APIARY/LANDSCAPE LEVEL. REDUCING MITE PRESSURE IN COLONIES ALMOST CERTAINLY WILL RESULT IN GREATER COLONY SURVIVORSHIP.