MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The Harris Nature Center hosted an introduction to beekeeping seminar on June 9 taught by Brian Jennings from the Center of Michigan Beekeepers. Jennings has been a beekeeper for 4 years and took up bee keeping to pollinate fruit trees in his back yard.

Jennings talked to local residents who are interested in housing hives of their own about basic bee facts, local native bees, the importance of honey bees, and how they can start their beekeeping process. He also discussed how we can protect honey bees now that they are on the endangered species list.

"One of the big things that people can probably do is get involved with the different bee keeping organizations and learn about things that are going on with bees. There are some negative things in terms of chemicals that we use in farming that need to be handled more carefully that are impacting bees."

Jennings also explained that without honey bees to pollinate our crops, our food sources would be largely impacted resulting in a spike in prices of produce at local supermarkets. This is why commercial bee keepers who keep bees and allow them to pollinate are so important for our environment.