[Pollinator] for discussion: should honeybees be allowed into conservation/protected areas?

[Randell Verhoek]

I am a man of observation. And I am saying that wherever I keep bees whether it 
be Texas, California or North Dakota other pollinators are present. In fact, 
other pollinators normally pollinate at cooler temperatures than honey 
bees.Also, I have observed different wasp type insects invading honeybee 
colonies. But here again, this is only observation on my part. The biggest enemy 
to pollinators is pesticides not applied according to label. 
 Randy Verhoek 
Harvest Honey, Inc.
American Honey Producers Association - Vice President
Bismarck, ND

Cell: 713-724-5993





________________________________
From: John Ascher <ascher at amnh.org>
To: Randell Verhoek <r.verhoek at harvesthoneyinc.com>; Victoria MacPhail 
<vmacphail at gmail.com>; Pollinator (NAPPC) List <pollinator at lists.sonic.net>
Sent: Wed, March 21, 2012 12:56:19 PM
Subject: RE: [Pollinator] for discussion: should honeybees be allowed into 
conservation/protected areas?



Randy,

Concern about placing honey bees in conservation areas is not limited to their 
potential to interfere with the public. Another concern is that honey bees will 
compete with native bees for floral resources thus reducing or interfering with 
natural pollination. More generally, as a matter of principle many people object 
to using conservation areas to promote exotic organisms, including beneficial 
domesticated species, for commercial or other purposes not relevant to the 
protection of native biota. Regarding educating the public, showcasing honey 
bees in conservation areas tends to reinforce the erroneous belief that honey 
bees are required to pollinate native plants, all of which should have native 
pollinators.

In my experience, native bees are remarkably abundant where honey bees are 
absent, as on Santa Cruz Island of California, and remarkably few in the 
vicinity of large honey bee populations, such as in the vicinity of concentrated 
hives in Turkey. For some mysterious reason, ecologists seem to experience 
persistent difficulty in documenting this very obvious pattern, or at least in 
publishing it in famous journals, even though honey bees and managed "non-Apis" 
bees occur globally and can be easily manipulated on a massive scale using 
exceedingly well known and readily available methods.

John



________________________________

From: pollinator-bounces+ascher=amnh.org at lists.sonic.net 
[pollinator-bounces+ascher=amnh.org at lists.sonic.net] on behalf of Randell 
Verhoek [r.verhoek at harvesthoneyinc.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:57 AM
To: Victoria MacPhail; Pollinator (NAPPC) List
Subject: Re: [Pollinator] for discussion: should honeybees be allowed into 
conservation/protected areas?


I believe they should as long as there are accessible roads that won't interfere 
with public walking trails and various areas of use to the public. I currently 
have honey bees on the Armond Bayou Conservation land in Houston, TX. We have 
our own access point away from the public where the bees do not interfere. Also, 
it is a win-win situation as I have a location to keep bees and the care-takers 
 get to enjoy honey that I share with them. The bees and native pollinators will 
and do co-exist just fine. The only threat of disease is the thousands of 
shipments of cargo containers being imported into U.S. on a daily basis where 
less than 2% are inspected. This is where mites, hive beetles, nosema 
ceranae....etc... have invaded and decimated our nations domestic honey bees.
 
In my opinion wherever possible if beekeepers could have access to conservation 
areas that have enough flowers to make sense to keep bees there, it would be a 
benefit to our country where only good will be the outcome.
 
Sincerely,
 
Randy

 Randy Verhoek 
Harvest Honey, Inc.
American Honey Producers Association - Vice President
Bismarck, ND

Cell: 713-724-5993





________________________________
From: Victoria MacPhail <vmacphail at gmail.com>
To: Pollinator (NAPPC) List <pollinator at lists.sonic.net>
Sent: Fri, March 16, 2012 12:20:46 PM
Subject: [Pollinator] for discussion: should honeybees be allowed into 
conservation/protected areas?

I am interested in the members of this list's responses to the question, "should 
honeybee colonies be allowed in conservation/protected areas"?  I.e. While 
honeybees can certainly fly from their colonies on private land into a 
conservation area, should beekeepers be allowed to place their colonies directly 
into the conservation area?

A few of my initial thoughts:
against
- honeybees are non-native; generally we try to avoid introducing non-native 
species into conservation areas
- honeybees may out-compete native bees/pollinators, thus they may negatively 
affecting the native/local pollinators and the native/local plants seed-set
- introduced species (incl. honeybees) may potentially spread diseases

for
- honeybees may already be present in the conservation area if there are 
beekeepers with hives nearby
- beekeepers would be able to have a pesticide-free and undisturbed location for 
their bees
- if near a public trail/info centre, could use them as an opportunity for 
educating the public about all pollinators


Any other thoughts/discussion?

Victoria MacPhail
Guelph, Ontario
vmacphail at gmail.com
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