Integrate+

Managing bees in forests (forest beekeeping) and in tree hives disappeared from most European countries by the end of the 19th century. The technique survived in the Sulgan Tash Nature Reserve in the Southern Ural, where a WWF project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) shed a new light on this patrimonial know-how. This resulted in the implementation of more than 20 tree beehives located mainly in central Poland. The hives have successfully functioned since their installation.

Photos: Frank Krumm

In order to promote the re-introduction of this traditional method of beekeeping, FreeTheBees, a charitable Swiss association for the protection of bees, got in touch with a team of traditional beekeepers in Poland, Przemek Nawrocki (WWF), Tomasz Dzierzanowski (local environmental protection organization), Andrzej Pazura (National State Forest of Poland) and Jacek Adamczewski (Wigierski National Park), and organized a specialized course in early spring 2014 in the municipality of Kriens (Switzerland). People interested in actively promoting this method could go through specific training (train-the-trainer approach). The organizers of the course also invited various beekeeping stakeholders to advertise and explain those methods. The idea was also to minimize conflicts and misunderstandings amidst beekeepers using conventional methods of beekeeping.

EFICENT (Frank Krumm and Daniel Kraus) was also invited to participate in the promotion of this traditional profession - throughout the Integrate+ network - as part of an integrative approach of forest management.

The course participants represented different institutions from several European countries and introduced themselves through short presentations in the evening of the 29th March. It was then agreed that the next course would be organized again in 2014. EFICENT already presented concrete ideas on how the next course could be conducted and where it could take place. A follow-up on this upcoming event will soon be communicated.

Managing bees in forests (forest beekeeping) and in tree hives:
This traditional method was mainly practiced in the Middle-Ages. It allows professional varroa treatment, breed inspection and feeding. It is a fully managed beekeeping method encouraging the idea of preserving beehives as naturally as possible. Recent studies point out that this “closer to nature” beekeeping method warrants natural resistance against diseases but also increases the resilience of bees and their surrounding ecosystem. This method does not harm the trees either, on the opposite their growth and protection is actually strengthened and enhanced through the nature of the care provided by the beekeeper. This beekeeping approach is therefore of great benefit for biodiversity in forests - and is clearly linked to the INTEGRATE+ approach.