Garth wrote:
>
>I have just been wondering what the stance is in areas where bees are
>an introduced species towards their presence in Nature reserves?
 
The situation in Australia is that conservation movements disapprove of
access by bees to National Park sites on the grounds that the bee is an
introduced species.  This is so even when it has been established that bees
improve the pollination of native species, in particular eucalypts, by
increasing weight and number of fertile seeds.
 
The position by National Parks staff is blind opposition.  Until recently
there has been little research on the effect of bees (and no interest in
having this done).  However recent projects by Dr. David Paton have found
(if I understand them correctly) that:
 
1.  Commercial bee hives do not increase the population of feral bee hives.
 
2.  Bees prefer hive sites with very small access holes, which are unlikely
to      be chosen by nesting birds.
 
On Kangaroo Island the K.I. Beekeepers Association is working with the
Glossy Black Rescue Team which is dedicated to restoring the Red Tailed
Glossy Black Cockatoo to a sustainable level.  Early publicity accused bees
of occupying nesting sites set up for cockatoos at the rate of 10% a year.
The Association has been working with trap hives in nesting areas and
reporting on success rates as well as actively trapping swarms in daily
beekeeping activities.
 
The Rescue Team has now discovered that the main predator of Glossy Black
eggs is the possum and preventing possum predation has lifted the number of
birds fledged to above the minimum recovery level.
 
Working with the Glossy Black Rescue Team has enabled a cross-flow of
information such as the likely swarming times and reasons for swarming (many
eucalypts are pollen deficient and hive populations drop during flowering).
 
Nesting hives have also been provided with input from the Association.  The
nest roofs are of polypropylene which we have never known bees to select for
hives.
 
However the barrier to multi-purpose use of forest areas is the ideology of
National Park staff.  New South Wales beekeepers have argued that the bee
has become naturalized and fills a vacant niche.  The comment of one
National Park spokeswoman when asked "If the natural pollinator is extinct
and the plant relies now on bees, what will you do?" replied that she would
prefer the plant died out rather than permit bees access.
 
The political process is agonizingly slow in educating the political masters
and likely to be interrupted by elections, thus taking you back to first base.
Beekeepers are actively involved in land care movements and conservation but
their reward is to have the areas defined as "heritage" and bees excluded.
 
The key to obtaining the access to national resources which is vital for the
health of the apiary industry and therefore the entire primary industry
area, is  properly conducted research to demonstrate that the arguments
against bees are invalid and to properly record the value of forests in
honey production.  This takes money and lots of time and can only be
conducted by State or Federal Associations with access to relevant
government ministers to ensure the message is not being derailed by
bureaucratic stone-walling.
 
Betty McAdam
 
 
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
j.h. & e. mcadam<[log in to unmask]
http://kigateway.eastend.com.au/hogbay/hogbay1.htm