Great Honey. Greater Cause.

* This article first appeared in the April 2022 issue of Bee Culture Magazine. *

I am a beekeeper, albeit unintentionally. My introduction to apis mellifera is likely similar to that of others born before 1990. During those what seemed like endless, summer days of my youth, it was commonplace to step on a honey bee while running barefoot through your yard. As the helpless, forager bee cast her tiny sting into the underside of my foot, I never would have imagined that roughly thirty years later, I would choose to get stung on a routine basis. Not just stung, I mean STUNG! Right between the eyes kind of stung!

I recall honey bees engorging on the small, white flowers that grew in everyone’s yard. Back then, the Midwest, and a lot of the US was covered in white clover and with the clover, came the bees. But alas, this was a period considered by many to be the “hay day” of commercial beekeeping. Modern-day beekeeping has evolved into a constant toggle between strategy and defense when combating the multitude of evils that await every altruistic forager who dares to leave the hive.

Climate change, broadscale pesticide applications in agriculture, a booming lawn care industry, and rapid declines in natural habitat and forage, currently present severe challenges for the hive organism, and anyone that dares to don a bee suit in 2022. Lest we forget our nemesis, V. destructor!

The long and (the) short of it is this. Pollinators are declining rapidly and forgive me for the overused analogy, but it certainly will take a village of like-minded, unrelenting, forward-thinking individuals to get us out of the red so to speak for the countless checks that we have written at the earth’s expense.

Backgrounds & Beginning with Honey Bees

My entry into beekeeping came after we purchased our farm in February 2017. The farm, located roughly 40 minutes from our primary residence in the suburbs, had been abandoned for the better part of 18 years and contained an heirloom pear orchard. At that time, our primary focus, and still part of our core ethos today was in land restoration and wildlife conservation. Our goals early on were to remove the unsightly, overgrowth of invasives that were choking out the native plants and propagate perennial, food producing shrubs and trees. Ultimately, we hoped to not only re-establish the natives, and develop a functioning, perennial food system, but also provide a welcoming sanctuary for ourselves and the diverse fauna that call this farm home.

Already having an orchard that was producing on site, it seemed fitting to find a local beekeeper and offer up some acreage for them to place hives on in exchange for their mentorship and helping us manage our hives. We found that beekeeper, er... should I say bee-haver and I soon discovered that his definition of beekeeping and mine differed drastically. Ella and I both have backgrounds in biology, and in another life, were quite successful in our work with reptiles and amphibians. Our specific area(s) of focus were with the true, Giant African Bullfrog (P. adspersus) or Pyxie frog as they are commonly referred to and the ever popular, Bearded Dragon lizard (P. vitticeps) to which we played an instrumental role in developing a genetically sound example of a newfound, dominant trait. But I digress.

Through his “mentoring” I learned quickly that his method of keeping bees involved letting them collect as much honey as they could collect throughout the beekeeping season, harvest the entire crop at summers end, and then leave the bees to their own avail in the fall. The following spring, he would head down south, buy more package bees, and repeat the process. Needless to say, nothing felt good about that, not to mention that he was also putting high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) feed on his colonies all season long, thus the bulk of his “honey” crop that he was selling to local retail shops was mostly evaporated and capped HFCS. I would learn that this is an all-too-common practice in the honey industry and one that we vowed to shy away from at all costs with our operation.

What I haven’t touched on yet is that during this time, I completely absorbed myself in everything that is the European honey bee. Honey bee biology, breeding honey bees, queen rearing techniques, making colony increases, honey production, wax rendering, EVERYTHING!! I scoured literature from the 1800’s, sourced publications from overseas, listened to beekeeping podcasts, watched You-Tube videos, etc. After taking in so much information from so many different sources, I quickly realized the relevance of the common beekeeping quote, “Ask 10 beekeepers the same question, get 12 different answers.”

So, now with several thousands of dollars in empty bee equipment and the knowledge that we should have possessed prior to ever purchasing our first bottom board, we started over. We spent the first couple of years amassing queen bees from some of the nation’s top queen producers hailing from climates colder than ours. We knew that in order to have a sustainable apiary, we were going to have to start with exemplary genetics and then slowly impart the traits that were of the utmost importance to us. There is a lot of credence in Aesop’s tortoise. Slow and steady DOES win the race!

So, tortoise we did! Slowly but surely, year after year, we were seeing higher success rates of over wintering colonies and stronger queens coming into each spring. I find myself every year telling Ella, “These are the healthiest bees we’ve ever had!” I know that as beekeepers, we are getting better at our craft as our management techniques, and knowledge base evolves, but I can’t assume all of the credit for having better bees’ season after season. The bees do the bulk of the heavy lifting in our operation, and we are merely there to maintain the beeyards, address problems that arise, and apply treatments as needed.

Those Fluttering Embers of Orange & Black

Shortly after we began clearing out the invasive species that riddled the acreage, something magical happened. Tall, fragrant, rose-colored flowers began to pop up in several of the patches that had been cleared. Not having the taller brush and various sized tree saplings to compete with, the flowers were now able to reach up into the sky and grab the precious solar rays that they so desperately needed. As spring waned to summer, the patches began to hum with life from within.

We worked the sultry, days of summer away and soon were greeted by a frequent visitor to the farm. Around mid-July, we started to see in excess these fluttering embers of orange and black, dancing about the sky. The embers were Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) and like the honey bees of my youth, I too recalled seeing them regularly growing up, but not as much today. A connection perhaps?

The days in the Farmer’s Almanac stacked and by the end of August, there were so many monarchs on the farm, that we were dodging them as we mowed. They frequented the patches of flowers that now broadcasted a constant waft of floral sweetness throughout the sun-beaten fields. One day, as I was cutting along the edge of one of the patches, I saw the most intricately striped, yellow and black caterpillar crawling along the edge of one of the flowers large, waxy leaves. A closer inspection revealed that the caterpillar was munching on the leaf like a diligent farmer harvesting his crop. Left to right, right to left, I watched in disbelief as the cat (butterfly talk for caterpillar) consumed almost the entire leaf in just a few minutes time! Reveling in what I had just witnessed, I decided that it was time to research this flower and see what kind of ecosystem I had unfolding in front of my eyes.

My research quickly yielded that the “flowers” in question, that now grew prolifically in several patches on our farm, was the Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) plant, the primary host plant to the monarch butterfly here in the Midwest. The tiger striped caterpillar was the monarch’s larval form, and due to a consistent decline in Common milkweed nationwide, the monarch is in serious trouble.

Fate & Honey

We never envisioned ourselves being beekeepers and were as equally blindsided by the impact that monarchs have had on our lives. Fate certainly has a peculiar way of showing itself and when it does, I tend to lean into the momentum. Countless Google searches kept bringing us back to Dr. Orley “Chip” Taylor and the revolutionary work that he and his team were doing at Monarch Watch. Prior to founding Monarch Watch in 1992, Chip ran several colonies of bees himself, and spent twenty-two years working for the Department of Agriculture with “killer bees” in Central and South America.

Monarch Watch is a nonprofit education, conservation, and research program based at the University of Kansas, that focuses on the monarch butterfly, its habitat, and the spectacular fall migration. Their popular, tagging program was launched during their first year, and has turned in to the cornerstone of their operation.

The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale, community science project that was initiated to help understand the dynamics of the monarch's spectacular, fall migration through mark and recapture. The tagging process helps to answer questions about the origins of monarchs that reach Mexico, the timing and pace of the migration, mortality during the migration, and changes in their geographic distribution. The tagging process involves applying a pressure-sensitive, adhesive tag with a unique code, to the underside of the monarch’s wing. These lightweight, all-weather tags were designed by Monarch Watch specifically for tagging purposes and do not harm them nor interfere with their flight.

Each fall, more than a quarter of a million tags are distributed by Monarch Watch to thousands of volunteers across North America who tag monarchs as they migrate through their area. These "community scientists" capture monarchs throughout the migration season, record the tag code and date, butterfly’s gender, and geographic location, then apply the tag and release them. At the end of the tagging season, this data is submitted to Monarch Watch and added to their extensive database to be used in further research.

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When it came time to harvest our first crops of honey, we decided to piggyback on the nation-wide platform that honey bees were receiving, to try and spread some additional awareness about the not-so-known decline in monarch populations and the milkweed plants that are needed to support them. Being a smaller operation, we can afford to do some of the more labor-intensive things that the larger producers don’t do.

So, we set out to do smaller, seasonal harvests that would mimic the monarch’s life cycle here in the Midwest. Sure, it was an unorthodox approach to traditional honey design and packaging, but any concerns that we had were quickly quelled. The seasonal, 3-part series has been an absolute scream with our audience and the packaging won a Graphic Design USA title in 2019, the first year that it was put into production.

Part of our mission is giving back to and supporting organizations whom we believe strongly in. A portion of all proceeds from the sale of our monarch themed, raw honey is donated annually to Monarch Watch. In addition, we also partnered with them to help spread awareness about the importance of planting milkweed within our local communities. Our “Plant Milkweed Support Monarchs” statement tee’s have been equally successful and has helped generate some additional revenue for Monarch Watch that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to contribute because of our limited honey production.

Grassland Habitat – A “Sensitive” Subject

Grassland birds are naturally adapted to native grasslands and prairie ecosystems throughout much of North America. While these are of the highest quality and “ideal” nesting habitats, they are now extremely rare and are fading quickly. As our grasslands fade, our resident bird species are forced to overcome and adapt. Nowadays, surrogate grasslands (hayfields, small grain farms, and fallow pastures) provide most of the important nesting habitat for our grassland-nesting birds. Strip habitats (utility right of ways, highway corridors, and field borders) that are maintained in an early successional state also offer valuable nesting and foraging habitats for several species.

Grassland birds rely upon herbaceous cover for natural foraging and nesting behavior. There are many nuances to the individual cover requirements amongst the different species. Some species are area-sensitive and require vast acreages of unbroken grassland habitat for nesting. Others are edge-sensitive, and shy away from fragmented landscapes to which they perceive as threats to them and their nests. As I have touched on in previous posts, the steps that we take as land practitioners that are meant to invite some species can be deterrents to others. What I hope to provide here is a CliffsNotes version of a much broader and highly complicated subject. Who would have thought that grass could be so dense (pun intended)?

Variables to Consider When Developing a Plan

Ask any neighborhood “Randy” who spends hundreds of dollars annually maintaining his chemically laden green turf, and you quickly find out that not all “grass” is created equal. This also applies to native and non-native grasses. The density and height, as well as surrounding land usages all influence the assemblage of birds that occur within a given area. Generally speaking, large, undisturbed plots of grassland habitat is more desirable and provides the most diverse grouping of grassland bird species. The expansive area allows birds to fulfill most of their courtship, nesting, brood-rearing, feeding, and leisure behavior with the added security requirements they prefer during nesting season. In addition, the larger habitat will also provide winter and migratory cover for many species.

Adequate cover of undisturbed grassland is among the greatest factors affecting grassland bird populations, and the continued loss and conversion of grassland breeding and nesting habitat remains the largest threat to the future of many of our grassland birds. Preserving existing and properly designing new grassland communities will help to maintain current species that are in decline. With proper management, local grassland bird populations will increase, and populations of other wildlife species will benefit from these same habitats.

Since hundreds or thousands of fallow acres aren’t lying in wait, it is up to us to think outside of the box and look for ways to improvise and work with what we do have available. Like pocket prairies for pollinators, the same approach can be taken with several of our grassland and early successional bird species.

Small Victories – Winning with “Edge-Sensitive” Species

As we have already established, most grassland species prefer large acreages of unfragmented habitat. Fragmentation in respect to land use is defined as the existence of a number of spatially separate plots of land which are managed singly. Typically, these smaller, isolated plots with heavily wooded edges have limited potential to support grassland birds. Interspersion (diversify in intervals) of various types of grasslands will maximize habitat quality for some species, however, interspersion of grassland habitat with woody vegetation or other land usage that would fragment the area can be detrimental to others.

Edge-sensitive grassland birds are those with the lowest tolerance for fragmented habitats and are typically grassland dependent when it comes to nesting behavior. When grasslands are fragmented, many grassland birds are subjected to nest predation from crows, blue jays, skunks, raccoons, opossums, foxes, and you guessed it, domestic cats.

Grassland birds that are edge-sensitive include the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and Savannah (Passerculus sandwichensis) and Henslow’s (Centronyx henslowii) sparrows. The Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) and Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarumare) are moderately sensitive to habitat fragmentation. Grassland birds that are tolerant to an abundance of edge include the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), Vesper (Pooecetes gramineus), Field (Spizella pusilla), and Song (Melospiza melodia) sparrows, Dickcissel (Spiza americana), and Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas).

On landscapes where intensive row crop agriculture is the dominant land use, we can design strip habitats which are extremely important not only for grassland birds but for other wildlife as well. Grassland bird assemblages will vary with the physical habitat structure and seasonal disturbance patterns (i.e., crop planting & harvesting).

Size Matters – “Area-Sensitive” Species

Many “area-sensitive” grassland bird species require a certain amount of habitat to be present, usually in contiguous patches or unbroken blocks, before individuals will use a given site. Estimates of the minimum size of suitable nesting and breeding habitat required to support breeding populations of grassland birds vary greatly amongst species. If your goal is to support a wide array of grassland-nesting bird species within a given area, then contiguous grassland blocks of at least 500 acres will provide the greatest potential. However, smaller grassland blocks provide viable habitat patches for many grassland bird species. A general rule may be to maximize the size and interconnectedness of grassland habitat patches available, while conducting management actions that maximize the habitat quality within the smaller patches.

Area-sensitive species prefer treeless areas because trees provide shelter for predators. A familiar nemesis of the suburbs, the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is also common in the countryside, parasitizing nests along wooded edges. Grassland birds that nest in larger blocks of grasslands that are at greater distances from trees see a higher percentage of fledglings take wing. Some area-sensitive species are obligate and depend upon certain plants to successfully function within a given grassland ecosystem.

To confuse the matter even further, the total area requirements vary from species to species and can also vary amongst geographical regions and the landscapes characteristics. For example, the size of habitat patches needed to attract individuals of a given species may be smaller in landscapes that contain a larger amount of grassland and open habitats nearby. 

Management Considerations

When possible, it’s beneficial to take a community or overall landscape approach to your designing, implementation, and management plans. If you own a small grassland, it helps to determine what the surrounding landscapes look like. If other grasslands or agricultural areas are present, then it may be feasible for you to manage for grassland birds despite having smaller acreage to work with. However, if your grassland is surrounded by forest, you may want to reconsider other goals.

 The following guidelines will not necessarily guarantee the presence or absence of certain species. Restoring and enhancing existing grasslands, and reducing fragmentation are hands down the best management options for grassland birds. Whenever you increase the size of a grassland, you increase the likelihood that grassland birds will benefit.

 Some things to consider when managing for grassland birds within your landscape:

 -          To manage for edge-sensitive species, you will need a minimum of 20 acres. Moderately sensitive species need between 10 and 20 acres, and tolerant species need less than 10 acres. These estimates are the minimum amounts these species need to survive. Again, the larger the grassland, the better.

 -          Avoid fragmenting existing grassland areas. If hiking trails are to be developed, restrict activities to the edges of the area. Avoid maintaining hedgerows that may serve as predator perches.

 -          If large tracts of grassland restorations are not possible, establish several patches. Try to incorporate adjacent grassy habitats such as pastures, hayfields, and grassy waterways as connections between the grassland patches or as non-wooded, open edges.

-          Maintain succession in its earliest stages by managing for grasses and sparse shrubs. Manipulations such as burning, and mowing are required to maintain grass productivity typically within three-to-five-year intervals.

 -          Manipulate your grasslands in 1/3 to 1/4 annual rotations. If several fields are maintained, it is better to manipulate one entire field, rather than a portion of each field per rotation. This will reduce fragmentation of your grasslands. However, if you have only one field, do not manipulate the entire field at once as it will displace the grassland birds. If possible, allow some sections to lie idle each year.

 -          Use prescribed burns to increase the productivity of warm season grasses. Conduct burns in early spring (March or April) or late fall (October or November).

 -          Mow grasslands and hayfields between July 15 and August 31. This will reduce the chance of destroying bird nests and discourages the invasion of problem grass species that move in after late season mowing. Cutting height should be about 6 inches.

 -          If you use the grassland for grazing, permit only light activity by livestock, and leave some areas un-grazed by utilizing rotational grazing practices. Do not graze below 6 inches. Moderate grazing may actually benefit additional wildlife species.

 -          Plant or maintain several types of grasslands in your area. A mosaic of tall and short grass fields will provide habitat diversity. If planting only one area, a mixture of warm season grasses and forbs is best. Cool season grasses mixed with legumes is another option.

 -          Create 100 ft. shrub buffers next to forest edges and human habitations to reduce the harsh edge. An alternative to planting shrubs along the edge of a forest is to allow the fire to burn slowly into the woods so as to create a "feathered" edge. Local fire authorities should always be contacted prior to a burn to discuss permits and/or restrictions.

 -          Chemical treatments of grasslands can also be used to control woody plants. Herbicides can be used to control any type of undesirable plants in your grassland, from woody plants to grasses and weeds. Correct application is important. Damage to non-target vegetation or wildlife is possible if you do not follow the labels instructions. Reducing or eliminating the use of insecticides will provide more valuable insect food for birds.

Just Do Something!

"When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver – He could plant a tree. When the axe was invented, he became a taker – He could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants."

-Aldo Leopold

As most of us have started to settle back into some semblance of “normalcy”, we are still within the throes of a worldwide pandemic. Government shut downs and social isolation have spawned record unemployment, political disconnect, civil unrest, and our ever-more-present-with-each-passing-year-friend global warming. When all hope seems lost, we as conservationist and land managers MUST dust off our boots, get back out there, and carry on with the work.

A Time When No Matter How You Choose, You Are Certain to Offend Someone

A reasonable person would assume that when you utilize your own time, money and resources to do something, ANYTHING for the environment, it would be warmly received by all, correct? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is no longer so Chappies and Chappettes! I recently had a conversation with the Senior Project Director of a major organization here in the US. It wasn’t until I had this conversation that I truly understood the gravity of the situation. I had pitched to him an upcoming “statement tee” that I planned to release and offered to include their organization on the campaign. For those of you that are not aware, a statement tee is a t-shirt that carries a bold statement on the front. Its intent is to stand out and deliver a message about something that you support. The campaign required no work or capital from them aside from lending their logo to the design. In return, a portion of all proceeds would be donated to them for their participation. We have done this in the past with other organizations and although our contribution doesn’t amount to anything that would make or break a company, every little bit helps right?

The idea I pitched focused on a certain demographic within their industry. A group of people that have been overlooked so to speak and haven’t received the proper recognition that they deserve. It is also a growing demographic that is performing exciting work for both science and the industry. My idea was met with caution and concern. Although being supportive of the idea on a personal level, he was concerned that if they backed this campaign, they would endure backlash from the other sector of their industry that wasn’t included. Despite not agreeing with his assessment initially, after pondering it for a bit, I couldn’t dispute his concerns seeing as to the current state of the world and the cancel culture that we now reside in.

It’s All Gone to The Birds

The hew of the European ax resulted in grassland bird species expanding their range into the midwestern and eastern states of North America during the late 1800s as forests were cleared for early, agrarian endeavors. Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) spread eastward from Illinois and Wisconsin beginning in the 1870s, and had reached the New England states by 1891. Other species that expanded their range eastward included the Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) and Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus).

Showing up to the party fashionably late, the Henslow's Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii), also expanded its range; however, its population boom coincided with the period of farm abandonment in the early 1900’s as these same settlers expanded further west. Grassland birds like the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorous), were likely already present in the Northeast prior to the large-scale forest clearing that had prompted the arrival of the aforementioned species.

From this data, it can be postulated that some forest bird species were without a doubt displaced when the forests were cleared. This displacement resulted in habitation by several new grassland species which after several years of farms being abandoned, were forced to seek refuge elsewhere as early successional species moved into the developing, scrubby habitat. Do you see a pattern?

Choose Wisely or Else!

So, from a conservation perspective, which direction should we go and which species should we target as we reshape and manage our landscapes? It has been suggested that the ideal habitat might be a landscape with scattered, small openings such as those that were created by native peoples. Another target could be 1966, when the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) began the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). Data from the BBS could be used to target specific grassland bird populations and implement management practices that cater to the species with the most rapid declines. For example, BBS data for Savannah Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks, show consistent, region-wide declines in the Northeast from 1966-1996. Similar trends for other species are the basis for the concern for grassland birds in regions with continued declines. If you support this approach, then you would de-emphasize late-successional forest species, which are already present, and focus your efforts on grassland bird recovery.

A case in point is the Bobolink, which since 1966 is declining at rates approaching 2% every year throughout their entire North American breeding range. In the Northeast, per BBS data, Bobolinks are most abundant in the St. Lawrence River Plain; which supports up to 17% of the world's population of Bobolinks. Even though the St. Lawrence River Plain was dominated by deciduous hardwood forests in pre-Columbian times, cultivation during the last 200 years has created a vast agricultural grassland in which climate and poor drainage have enhanced the value of the region to grassland birds such as the Bobolink and Henslow's Sparrow. In this case, a rational argument could be made for a management target date set in the late twentieth century, with an emphasis on enhancing grassland habitat. That approach is being undertaken by the USFWS in its St. Lawrence Wetlands and Grassland Management District, where the Partners in Wildlife program restores old fields to grassland habitat, which are then maintained in an early successional stage by private landowners.

Embrace What Feels Right to You

Upon purchasing our initial acreage (7+ acres) the land was 65% scrubby, early successional growth with the remaining 35% being fragmented, forested, what I would call “islands”. The southern border to our property (55+ acres) is 75% rolling, hay pasture with the remaining 25% being fragmented, forested islands. To the south of that is 50+ acres of 100% forested habitat. This collective 112+ acres and then some, was initially one parcel that operated as a pastured cattle operation dating back to the 1800’s.

In July 2020, we were able to acquire 11+ acres of the rolling pasture which adjoins to the south end of our property. When considering a long term, management plan, weighing out the recent data trends, we embraced a grassland habitat restoration. In doing so, we are certain to displace some of the resident, early successional species but these same birds have more of that habitat nearby within agricultural and residential land. The smaller islands of forested habitat will require selective cuts to open up the tree canopy to create a non-interrupted plot to make it more appealing for grassland birds. In doing this, we will also displace some resident forest dwelling birds but these birds have larger spans of forest to choose from within the bordering acreage.

In conclusion, I am of the firm belief that doing something is better than doing nothing. I also believe that over analysis often leads to paralysis which leads to nothing getting done. Pick a plan, conduct your research, implement said plan and carry out the work that achieves the ideal habitat that YOU desire, and brings the most value to YOUR life.