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MARCH 18, 2019

So last Monday's meeting was an interesting one. All the players came out to spend the evening with  Huberto Izquierdo discussing the new legislation around hive registration.

 Here are a few of the highlights as per Christine Kurtz and Hayley Hossfeld.

Essentially what we have here is legislation put into place for migratory beekeepers. It doesn't have much to do with the majority of our club the hobbyist, backyard beekeepers. The interesting thing was that going into it we thought the conversation would be around mitaging 

                                        Assembly Bill AB2468

 - The legislation in place is really more geared for commercial beekeeper, pollination outfits

 - For Napa gonna be a voluntary thing, don’t want to force anyone but it would be nice to have data to get  $$ down the line, nice to have data for crop report

 -There is zero awareness unless accidentally driving by of where commercial beeks are staging or parking   gives

 -2019 is a trial year

 -2020 more enforcement but don’t have $$ or staff yet

 -The overall consensus was there wasn't much value if not enforced 

 -Each county decides how to deal with it 

 - More education is needed about bees, packages, how pests pathogens and bad genetics enters from all  over America

 -County prefers not to have calls from public to tell them about staging/parking hives, maybe one or two,     but not 20 to check up on compliance.

 -All in all the new bill feels very non-committal and not very enforceable.

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MEETING NOTES FROM JUNE 17, 2019

 

*What a wonderful evening the NCBA had, hosted by the gracious Drew Erickson and Clif Family Farms!  Chillin’ out at the end of a warm day out on Ink Grade was perfection. The breeze carried us through their beautiful gardens filled with perennials, fruit trees and vegetables that support and nourish people and ALL the pollinators. Drew rocked 5 hive dives with us like a pro, even Mark Griffin got in on a little of that, including a beautiful log hive they have lovingly installed to Let it Bee. You just can’t put a price on being able to get these kind of hands on experiences to learn the many different nuances within the structure of each hive. Truly, you can read all you want on beekeeping, but there is nothing like diving in and seeing the reality of it all. Big bee love to Drew, Tessa and the Clif Family for their efforts to walk the talk of sustainability and carbon footprint reduction along with their support of righteous farmers and community outreach right here in our hood!

 

*In an effort to educate ourselves and re-cap the last meeting with the Ag Department, we discussed some pros and cons of registering hives with Bee Where California. This is really set up for commercial producers, so do the research to see if you are called to hop on board yourselves.  As a club, we are exploring and discussing all the options closely…

 

Possible pros: Potential notification of pesticide sprays

                       They will have a large database of beekeepers

                       Will greater inform local Ag departments of the bee community

                       Opportunity to educate local Ag through working together 

Possible cons: Relinquishing private information

                       Compliance with regulations

                       Still a pilot program

                       Dues and Fees

                       Entity was formed by a partnership with PCA

 

*The formation of a Steering Committee was announced for the Napa County Beekeepers Association which is actually one in the same as BKNV.  So, look for an email about the details and step right up!
 

*Lotsa seasonal discussion from the hive mind went round while noshing and drinking about

 Pollen color

Catching swarms

Splits

Queen rightness

Kids who beek out

 

Please sign into the club website so we can let you know about the next kick ass meeting and most of all, to have a voice in this awesome community.  https://www.beekeepersofnapavalley.org/members

 

Thanks to all you Beeple!

 

Marla Bird

NAPA COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
 BEEKEEPERS OF NAPA VALLEY

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