Utah Native Plant Society

The posts contained herein are intended to be informational, and any opinions expressed are mine alone.




Saturday, February 24, 2024

Honey bee apiaries on public lands and in natural areas

Some references relating to concerns about honey bees especially when apiaries are placed on public lands or in/near natural areas follow:

Commercial honeybees threaten to displace Utah’s native bees

Nick Bowlin March 7, 2019, High Country News

https://www.hcn.org/issues/51-5/public-lands-commercial-honeybees-threaten-to-displace-utahs-native-bees-pesticides/


Fighting for Flowers: Native Bee Conservation and the Dangers of Honeybee Permitting on Public Lands 

Thomas Meinzen, Grand Canyon Trust, March 2020 presentation

https://www.unps.org/miscpdf/MeinzenProtectBeesMarch2020.pdf


Will Putting Honey Bees on Public Lands Threaten Native Bees?

https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-putting-honey-bees-on-public-lands-threaten-native-bees

by Jennifer Oldhamd, September 15, 2020, Yale Environment 360 (published by the Yale School of the Environment)

Article quotations:

As suitable sites become scarce, commercial beekeepers are increasingly moving their hives to U.S. public lands. But scientists warn that the millions of introduced honey bees pose a risk to native species, outcompeting them for pollen and altering fragile plant communities.

“There are no feral honey bees in Utah — the winters are too long and cold,” Cane said. “This is essentially the most intact native bee fauna in the U.S. It’s worth protecting.”

 

Environmental groups want to block honeybees from Utah’s national forests

By Brian Maffly,  Aug. 23, 2020, Salt Lake Tribune

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2020/08/23/environmental-groups-want/

 

Investigating Imperiled Bumble Bee Species Distributions and Habitat Associations

Oct 1, 2023  to Jan 30, 2026, USDA Research Project:

https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/project/?accnNo=445663

Bumble bees are critically important pollinators for wild plants and agricultural crop production, but are declining globally. Bumble bee population declines have been attributed to several interacting stressors, including land-use alteration and climate change. 


Project 1100 

Various articles from 2019 to 2021 including:

Why Honey Bee Apiaries Should Never Be Permitted On National Public Lands by Vincent Tepedino (2019).

https://www.projectelevenhundred.org/the-science


Xerces

An Overview of the Potential Impacts of Honey Bees to Native Bees, Plant Communities, and Ecosystems in Wild Landscapes:  Recommendations for Land Managers

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/16-067_02_Overview%20of%20the%20Potential%20Impacts%20of%20Honey%20Bees_web.pdf

Comment: contains many recommendations with respect to the placement of apiaries on public lands and natural areas.

Citation:

Hatfield, R. G., S. Jepsen, M.Vaughan, S. Black, E. LeeMäder. 2018. An Overview of the Potential Impacts of Honey Bees to Native Bees, Plant Communities, and Ecosystems in Wild Landscapes: Recommendations for Land Managers. 12 pp. Portland, OR: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Want To Save The Bees? Focus On Habitat, Not Honey Bees

By Rich Hatfield and Matthew Shepherd on 6. July 2023

https://xerces.org/blog/want-to-save-bees-focus-on-habitat-not-honey-bees


Honey Bees in North America: Why Getting a Hive Won’t “Save the Bees”

by Rich Hatfield and Matthew  Shepherd (Xerces), 2023

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/22-011.pdf



 




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