HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0786.056 2022-2024From: Carey Yost
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 10:49 AM
To: Council Testimony; Kimball, Heather; Kagiwada, Jennifer, Lee Loy, Sue; Kierkjewicz ;
Ashley; Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Matt; Galimba, Michelle M.; Villegas, Rebecca; trt'aba,',
Holeka; Evans, Cynthia F.W.
Subject: Testimony - Bee Bill 144
..r
ke Aloha Hawai' i County Council Members,
We have a small residential orchard in Keaau town that produces over forty diferent varieties
of fruit on our small in -town house lot.
Prior to the introduction of the Vorroa destructor mites, we did not even think about pollination
of our trees... they always had borne fruit. That changed in 2009, when less than a quarter of
our fruit trees were pollinatted (and none of our decorative Manilla palms bore seeds, though
they had flowered).
Researching after the fact, most of the feral bees in our county had been wiped out, and only
the hives managed by beekeepers were surviving the destrution of the diseases that V.
destructor spread through our honeybee populations.
One of our friends, a beekeeper, suggested putting one of his hives in our orchard and 2010 was
a record fruit production year for us. This arrangement continued through 2016, when our
beekeeper friend retired & sold us his hive.
As "newbee" beekeepers, we began going to BIBA meetings and realized our hive was not
technically legal (though research through Hawai' i County Code Chapter 4 showed that the
county allowed honeybees as pets, and so we have encouraged our pet honeybees to thrive.)
These pet girls have not only pollinated our fruit trees, and those of our neighbors, they have
produced hundreds of pounds of honey, which has placed with the winners every year in the
state-wide Hawai' i Honey Challenge.
Our pet honeybees have also lead me into advocacy for residential honeybee legislation and into
trying to unravel the intricacies of our states` honeybee diet and nutritional needs, along with
agreeing to represent our state as the Hawaii Region Director of the Western Apicultural
Society.
Due to the example our small orchard has highlighted, I encourage you pass the "Bee Bill - 144"
and hope that you correct County Code 25, and the past injustices that have lumped ALL
beekeepers in industrial "Livestock production". The current wording AND lack of definitions of
terms even places our County Animal Control Keaau facility in jeapardy, as Councilmember Sue
Lee Loy is well aware of.
Mahalo for your concidration of my views.
A hui hou!
Carey Yost
1
Comm. Mo.
Ref. To:
Ref. Date_'_ fD
Caney Yost
https_//www.hawaiibeekee-P—er.org/.
Jim and Car ey`s Happy Bees
awai` i Region Director
Western Apicultural Society
https://www.westernapiculturalsociety.orci/about