Whatever
Happened To...
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Diamond Head’s
bees moved at
Parks Division’s behestQuestion: What ever happened to the beehives in Diamond Head Crater?
Answer: Beekeeper Michael Kliks removed the hives in Diamond Head Crater in June, after repeated requests by the state Parks Division that he do so.
"For a period of time, Michael Kliks tended some bees on Diamond Head with our concurrence, but it was never intended to be a long-term, permanent activity," said Dan Davidson, deputy director of the Department of Land & Natural Resources. "In the last year or so, we asked Michael to remove the bees, and it took a little convincing on our part. Finally we needed to post a legal notice, saying please do so or we're going to do it ourselves."
"We felt that in a public park it was inappropriate for long-term use because of safety -- we didn't want people to get stung," Davidson said.
The park officials asked Kliks to tend to existing bees in the park around 1995, after a former beekeeper died and the bees were unattended, said Diamond Head Park coordinator Yara Lamadrid-Rose. Apparently, there had been an apiary in the crater since the 1950s when it was part of Fort Ruger and a general kept them as a hobby, she said.
Kliks used his own equipment to tend the bees and sold the honey, Lamadrid-Rose said. There was never a formal agreement. "It started as a favor, and we didn't want anybody to start thinking of this as permanent," she said.
Davidson said an inspection of the site a month after Kliks removed the bees found it clear. "We were most pleased about coming to a resolution peacefully," he said.
The Star-Bulletin was unable to reach Kliks to see where he moved the hives or how they are doing, and state officials said they don't know where the hives were relocated.
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