County Council - Don't Squeeze the Bees

Don't Squeeze the Bees

in Howard County

Tell your County Council member that you support the bees!

It's very important to tell the Howard County Council how you feel about how the zoning affects beekeepers. Thank you for taking the time to email your county council representative regarding this important matter.

Here's how to do it...

Step 1: Find your political district on the map below

ť View more detailed political district maps.

ť Use the Howard County interactive guide to find the political district for your address

Step 2: Find your Council member from the list below:

District 1
Courtney Watson
cwatson@howardcountymd.gov

District 2
Calvin Ball
cbball@howardcountymd.gov

District 3
Jen Terrasa
jterrasa@howardcountymd.gov

District 4
Mary Kay Sigaty
mksigaty@howardcountymd.gov

District 5
Greg Fox
gfox@howardcountymd.gov

Click on the email address of the council member for your district. In your email, please make sure you provide your street address so the council member realizes that you are one of his or her constituents. Tell the council member that you support honey bees and our backyard beekeepers in Howard County.

Got writers block? Here are some facts about honey bees and beekeeping that might help get you going.

Photo: A backyard beekeeper from Columbia harvesting honey from his hive in the summer of 2008 (click to enlarge)

Honey bees have been in crisis over the past few years from a condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Recent die-off from CCD is estimated to have produced a loss of about one third of all honey bee colonies in the U.S. during each of the last three winters from 2006-09. Bee disappearances threaten the production of nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables and seeds, where their pollination is responsible for over $15 billion in added crop value.
The overwhelming majority of beekeepers in the United States are backyard beekeepers (commonly called "hobbyists")
Roughly a third (1/3) of what we eat is pollinated directly or indirectly from honey bees
Honey bees are vegetarians. Their diet consists entirely of the things they collect from flower blossoms - pollen and nectar (which they later convert to honey)
The average honey bee will make only one twelfth (1/12) of a teaspoon of honey in its entire life. It takes more than 500 honey bees and over 2 million flowers to make just 1 pound of honey.
The average honey bee will only live 45 days after it emerges from its cell
The honey bee is the only insect to produce food that humans consume