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

[Randell Verhoek]

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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