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Sunday, April 10, 2011
Regulation of Beehives Is a Stretch
Santa Fe City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez may believe he's just trying to address constituent concerns, but his latest proposal to regulate the City Different's beekeepers may do more harm than good.
Dominguez has introduced an ordinance that would require beekeepers to register their hives annually after a state inspection. The number of hives would be limited on smaller city lots, or even prohibited unless the hives are behind a 50-foot barrier.
Beekeepers, of which there are a fair number inside the city limits, say the new rules are unnecessary. The state regulates beekeepers already, although admittedly loosely — state officials in charge say there's no way they can muster the manpower to provide the annual inspections to "hobbyist" beekeepers' hives that the new city ordinance would require. The state stopped bothering with the inspections back in 1987, and while state statutes do require the inspection before honey is sold, officials say the laws are outdated and should be rewritten.
Bees aren't endangered species — at least not yet. But their numbers everywhere are dwindling because of a not-yet-understood phenomenon called "colony collapse disorder." The situation is dire enough already to have caused alarm in agricultural circles — bees are, after all, essential to much food production because of their role as pollinators.
For this reason alone, it would seem a better public policy to encourage apiaries, not throw up obstacles in the way of amateur beekeepers.
Dominguez says he's proposing the law because he's fielded complaints about a beekeeper from constituents who are allergic to bees.
It's worth noting that people who have bee allergies aren't going to solve their (often very serious) medical problems by regulating neighborhood beehives. Instead, they need to carry emergency treatment for allergies with them — after all, there are still wild bees out there, and they can and do sting.
Moreover, if the problem Dominguez is hearing about is due to a single negligent beekeeper, then surely it's better solved by applying existing city laws. Those particular hives — like the hornet and wasp nests also mentioned in Dominguez's proposed ordinance — may simply be a public nuisance.
We've already got laws on the books to deal with that. In this instance, Dominguez should just buzz off.
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