Managing Apiaries in the Santa Monica Mountains
More Pollinators, More Habitat, More Stewardship
The Santa Monica Mountains are a special place for us to live. Our backyards are home to the rich diversity of insects, amphibians, mammals, and plant species that flourish here. We are also surrounded by a vast urban sprawl that continually threatens our wildlands with pollution, land development, and ecosystem change through increasing fire frequency and introduction of invasive species. As residents of this urban-wildland interface, it is our responsibility to mitigate human threat to “preserved'' wild areas by making our backyards places that encourage the health of our native flora and fauna. It is my belief that raising and maintaining apiaries in the Santa Monica Mountains benefits the long term health of our native landscape, and our own health as well.
European honey bees are non-native pollinators introduced to North America for the agricultural services they provide--namely, pollination and honey production. Honey bees need pesticide-free natural foliage in which to flourish. Over the past century and a half, populations of honey bees have naturalized in the Santa Monica Mountains, and due to the favorable climate and abundant resources, tend to have low rates of mortality and high rates of productivity.
Does the presence of honey bees in the mountains create an unhealthy competition for resources among local pollinator species (butterflies and bees)? Most of the literature on this topic agrees that intensity of competition depends strongly on the specific environment or season in question. We know that April through August our local plants provide an abundance of bloom. On a good rain year (>14”) nectar flow outpaces pollinators at an incredible rate. Plant groups overlap in sequential blooms, providing multiple niches for the diverse pollinating community the mountains support (Ground Bees of Satwiwa emerge from hibernation in early May at the height of the sage bloom). However, in the intervening months or during poor rain years, resources become scarce and the mountains can become a highly competitive place for pollinators. Most of the species living on our mountains have adapted to that variability by becoming generalists--meaning they will eat whatever is most abundant and most viable and they don’t go hungry easily.
Beekeepers can counterbalance the potential negative effect of their apiaries by adhering to a management plan that is sensitive to local weather patterns and blooming schedules and reduces stress on local flora and fauna. The beekeeper’s toolkit contains intimate knowledge of bee behavior and the local environment. We must understand the seasonal movements of the bees as well as the timing of the blooms, control for density by matching colony size and number of hives with location limits, and maintain meticulous hygiene and genetics management to prevent swarming and ensure hives have good supplies at hand to reduce the need for robbing. With this attentiveness, we can keep our bees in a way that is compatible with (and even beneficial to) local pollinator populations.
Considering the ecosystem as a whole, we know that limiting the number of pollinators causes plants to produce less seed, which over the long run means less habitat. That outcome would be bad for all populations of pollinators (and humans too!).
Honey bees have the amazing ability to pollinate wild plants and produce something unique and flavorful that everyone can enjoy (human and non-human). As our bees collect nectar from the early blooming ceanothus and the fragrant sage they recharge the latent seed bank necessary for post-fire recolonization of the fragile chaparral. As they fill the Laurel Sumac and Toyon with buzzing, they ensure the critical availability of fall and winter fruit for our resident birds and small mammals. People who try our local honey often remark that they are surprised by the subtle and unique flavors. “It's the best,” they say, “I’ll never buy store honey again!” Local honey gives them a direct way to enjoy our local native flora. Eating honey puts people in direct contact with this insect-plant reality and increases people’s appreciation of its value and the importance of conserving wildlands.
The biggest threat to sensitive insect populations is human interference: our pesticides and herbicides, the loss of native plant habitat from development, and the introduction of invasive plants. In order to combat the widespread use of herbicide and pesticide and habitat loss, we must create an awareness of the importance of our pollinating insect population. When people understand the essential role honey bees play in our food production systems, they are motivated to care for bees’ health and safety. This concern indirectly results in the protection of the larger community of plants and pollinators. There are definitely negative effects that beekeepers need to be aware of, such as affecting endangered species or disease transmission between domestic and wild populations (and vice versa). But the main force driving the extinction of vulnerable populations is not competition or disease, it is certainly habitat loss driven by humans.
Things we can do in our community to support a healthier ecosystem include planting and propagating native plant species, protecting wild forage habitats, reducing the prevalence of harmful chemicals in our backyards, and educating our neighbors about the important role that pollinators play in our lives. Through my beekeeping and honey selling, I have had the chance to connect with all kinds of people and spread the message that we need to be better stewards of our environment and all the living things in it.
Of all the domesticated animal species, honey bees provide us with one of the most direct connections with the more “wild” natural environment. Not only do they pollinate our agricultural plants for food production, they also pollinate native plants and make rare delicious honey from plants we might otherwise ignore. Additionally, their sensitivity to the environment teaches us about the effects of changes in temperature, rainfall amounts, forage availability, and landscape development patterns on the greater ecology.