At the request of a local beekeeper, the city is going to look into the whether or not Grande Prairie should adopt urban beekeeping.
Ethan Jarvis says several communities in Alberta and elsewhere have adopted policies that Grande Prairie could easily emulate.
“It’s been done in Calgary for about 25 or 30 years, Edmonton is running trial projects right now. Red Deer and other communities have had it for quite some time. Vancouver has had a very successful program developed there as well. It’s just something we can use to develop talents and interests in the kids away from the electronics a little bit.”
Jarvis says additionally, anyone wanting to keep bees would need appropriate training.
“It’s a hobby group where people help out each other to make sure that the whole community benefits, instead of having issues arise from people not treating the bees appropriately or not having appropriate facilities to keep the bees.”
Alberta is well known for it’s honey, as the province is responsible for 40 per cent of Canada’s honey production, with a significant chunk of that coming from the Peace Region.
Jarvis says typically urban beekeeping limits a standard yard of about 500 square meteres or so to two hives.
