[Pollinator] FW: access to the listserve; honey bees on conservation land

Thu Mar 22 09:37:02 PDT 2012

Dear Dan:

No one is trying to demonize anyone.  Obviously, protection of pollinator
and pollinator-services works only if beekeepers, scientists, local
naturalists (who are often amateur beekeepers) and federal/state employees
work together.  The fact remains, though, that some beekeepers are living
in la-la land based on recent, shared communications.  Here are the facts.

1) Honeybees are not native to the flora of the western hemisphere.
2) Nectar and pollen is a limited resource consumed both by honeybees and
native animals with anthophilous foraging habits.
3) Commercial bee keepers introduce hives by the hundreds into agricultural
areas (fine with me) but that doesn't mean that honeybees always prefer the
nectar and pollen they obtain from domesticated crops when they have the
choice of flowering plants found in natural areas adjacent to cultivated
fields.
4)  Some beekeepers find this final point the hardest point to understand.
 The presence of any animal on a flower doesn't mean that flower has a true
pollinator.  Animal-mediated cross-pollination is a "balanced act."
 Honeybees DON'T pollinate every native flower they visit even though they
may exit the flower with nectar and pollen from that flower.  I have nearly
30 years of publications on who does and who doesn't pollinate based on
fieldwork in North America, Australia, New Caledonia and Israel.  Sometimes
the honeybee is a dependable pollinator and sometimes it ain't but it is
almost always a dependable remover of nectar and pollen.  That's o.k. with
me.  My darling, *Xylocopa * (males and females) are good, native, North
American citizens and they certainly don't pollinate everything they visit
either but they are virtually the ONLY pollinators of one of the native
milkweeds I've studied the last two years.  The fact remains that you won't
see hundreds of thousands of Xylocopas in a conservation area punching
holes in the flowers but you can certainly see hundreds and thousands of
honeybees in the same site if commercial apiarists are permitted to bring
in their hives within a certain radius.

I love honey, beeswax candles and consume enhtusiastically every fruit and
vegetable pollinated by honeybees (especially those yummy Californian
almonds).  However, I also love to eat pork sausage, beefsteaks, fired
chicken and roast duck (Chinese way is best) in the clear knowledge that
these animals were not permitted to forage in reserved, conservation areas
during their life times. If dear little Miss Apis and her many sisters are
permitted to do what is sweet and natural in a conservation area doesn't
that mean that Bossie the cow, Donald duck and the three little pigs must
be allowed the same access?

Peter

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:04 AM, Sunny Boyd <sun at pollinator.org> wrote:

> ** ** ** ** ** **
>
> From Daniel Weaver.****
>
> ** **
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Daniel Weaver <dbeeweaver at gmail.com>
> To: Pollinator at lists.sonic.net
> Cc: Zac Browning <z_browning at msn.com>
> Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:45:39 -0500
> Subject: access to the listserve; honey bees on conservation land
> Hello All,****
>
> ** **
>
>    Though I'm not sure this reply will post to the list, if it reaches
> someone of authority with the means to allow me privileges to post I would
> appreciate the favor of doing so - just provide appropriate instructions.
>  If this does post automatically, then I apologize for the diversion.****
>
>     I'll assume as a given that honey bees (Apis mellifera) are avid,
> super-generalist pollinators of an amazing variety of plants, whether
> native, merely introduced or invasive. Thus they may promote propagation of
> a huge number of species, and will undoubtedly compete for nectar and
> pollen resources.  Less certain is whether this competition will negatively
> impact native pollinators in any particular time, place or environmental
> condition, much less native pollinators generally.****
>
>     I will concede that ecosystems most likely to be affected by honey bee
> populations will be those where honey bee populations are at the most
> extreme in terms of density.  By the same token, the seasonal occurrence of
> large concentrations of honey bees - in the central valley of California
> for Almond pollination being one example - happen much earlier than most
> native pollinators emerge or certainly before their populations reach peak
> levels.****
>
> ** **
>
>     First, I think it important to discriminate among land tracts and the
> purposes for which they are administered.  True "Wilderness areas" don't
> merit managed honey bee populations and beekeeper traffice (though how are
> you going to exclude feral colonies?) any more than they should be used for
> any other intrusive activity.  But I do think that honey bees have a much
> less negative impact on native habitat than grazing mammals, so if you can
> graze or hay the land, then honey bees should be a no-brainer. ****
>
>     Second, many large tracts that are managed to promote conservation of
> various biological features have long been occupied and used by beekeepers
> and in some cases have been natural habitat for introduced honey bees even
> longer.  The later category of land includes conservation reserve program
> land, blm land, forested land and incidental tracts managed for reasons
> other than merely preservation and conservation of endangered species or
> native habitat alone.  ****
>
>     In other words, if you want to keep honey bees off of wilderness areas
> I'm sympathetic (but what about those pesky feral colonies that have been
> part of the ecosystem for 300?? years).  On the other hand if you want to
> propose excluding honey bees from any land tract that has any conservation
> goal as an administrative or management aim, then I think you're ignoring
> reality, and attempting to demonize the *only *agricultural industry that
> is truly invested in (and will survive if and only if) we as a nation do
> more to protect and preserve natural environments.  If you want political
> allies to help preserve more land, and develop, ruin and plunder the
> environment less, then we're the best you're likely to find.****
>
>      It we can't preserve the natural and mutually dependent alliance
> between beekeepers and native pollinator enthusiasts, find some common
> ground, and work on preserving more natural habitat for both honey bees and
> native pollinators then were all well and truly ....... add your favorite
> apocalyptic phrase here.****
>
>      ****
>
> Cheers,****
>
> Dan Weaver****
>
>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> -- ****
>
> Daniel Weaver****
>
> ****
>
> Genformatic, LLC
> ****6301 Highland Hills Drive********
>
> ****Austin**, **TX**  **78731********
>
> Direct: 512 565 4693****
>
> www.genformatic.com****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
>
>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> -- ****
>
> Daniel Weaver****
>
> ****
>
> Genformatic, LLC
> ****6301 Highland Hills Drive********
>
> ****Austin**, **TX**  **78731********
>
> Direct: 512 565 4693****
>
> www.genformatic.com****
>
> ** **
>
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