Her Email-
Currently, hives are not allowed on County preserves, as European Honey Bees indiscriminately pollinate a lot of our invasive species (Brazilian Pepper is a major pollen source for them). There is also a bit of a liability issue, even though the European stock is pretty docile, and allergies to honey bees are pretty rare (more people who think they are allergic to bees are actually allergic to wasps/hornets, etc.), people may still mess with the hives and get stung. I know many successful entities that are keeping honey bees, and I haven?t heard of any issues with them.
Right now though we have been focusing more on providing native bee roosts on our sites and are having some success around the Lakela?s mint populations, the goals would be to provide for native bees over exotic species.
I?m going to leave it there and not ask her where feral bees came from
Good that you tried Barefoot. Sorry the extension agent, would not cooperate, not surprised though.
Salty,
Duvall County has a garden that is run by the extension office. Jacksonxille Beekeeper Club keeps up to 4 hives on site with full support of the extension office. We even added a building to store our bee equipment.
Maybe you can use this information during your next conversation with your agent. Florida fully supports Beekeeping, especially hobbyists. The state installed laws that prohibit local agencies from outlawing Beekeeping.
Jim Altmiller
Quote from: saltybluegrass on May 07, 2019, 05:54:32 PM
I?m going to leave it there and not ask her where feral bees came from
IIRC, there are something like 400 species of bees native to the US. Feral honey bees are not native bees, so they are technically an invasive species, competing with the native bees. Her response makes sense from that perspective, even if you or I would have preferred to hear otherwise.
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1544
how could anyone prove honeybees aren?t native to u.s.?
most folks just parrot what they?ve heard or read.....
Quote from: Will C. on May 08, 2019, 04:51:03 AM
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1544
how could anyone prove honeybees aren?t native to u.s.?
most folks just parrot what they?ve heard or read.....
Even if honey bees are native, non-honey bees are in need of far more ecological help than the semi-domesticated honey bee. Check out the article ?You?re Worrying About the Wrong Bees? from Wired. I?d post the link but Wired lets non-subscribers access only one article a month and I can?t access it right now.
Quote from: Will C. on May 08, 2019, 04:51:03 AM
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1544
how could anyone prove honeybees aren?t native to u.s.?
most folks just parrot what they?ve heard or read.....
From your link, "Fact is, the honey bee lived here, but it did not survive." Ok, from the fossil record, we know at least one honey bee died in the Americas millions of years ago ...
European humans are an exotic species. They have crowded out the native humans. When are we going to start sending them back to Europe? Obviously honey bees are here to stay as are all of those other exotic species of plants.
Quote from: Michael Bush on May 08, 2019, 09:56:41 AM
European humans are an exotic species. They have crowded out the native humans. When are we going to start sending them back to Europe? Obviously honey bees are here to stay as are all of those other exotic species of plants.
Agreed.
Quote from: The15thMember on May 08, 2019, 09:23:38 AM
Even if honey bees are native, non-honey bees are in need of far more ecological help than the semi-domesticated honey bee.
This too.
Honey bees don't need to be everywhere, just like cattle don't.
Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 07, 2019, 09:12:49 PM
Salty,
Duvall County has a garden that is run by the extension office. Jacksonxille Beekeeper Club keeps up to 4 hives on site with full support of the extension office. We even added a building to store our bee equipment.
Maybe you can use this information during your next conversation with your agent. Florida fully supports Beekeeping, especially hobbyists. The state installed laws that prohibit local agencies from outlawing Beekeeping.
Jim Altmiller
I think there is still a disconnect and misinformation between state and county regarding the states dynamic interest in maintaining a viable honey bee pollinating species.
I?m thinking of forwarding the locals email to Cathy at the state to see if my county couldn?t use a little edumacation or directive help - my club also has hives on the state land UF uses in Fort Pierce for agricultural research.
That?s 10 minutes away. Kinda flys in the face of that answer I received