BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — A monarch butterfly weigh station, a pollinator garden and a community bee apiary could soon take root in Inez as the Martin County Beekeepers Association moves forward with a slate of hands-on conservation and education projects.
Dan Howard, agent for agriculture, outlined the ideas Monday afternoon during the association’s meeting at the Martin County Extension Office.
Members learned that county officials are actively seeking grants to fund habitat beautification projects in Inez.
“They do not have a lot of general ideas about what they want to do, which is why they called me,” Howard said.
Howard said his first proposal focuses on youth involvement by creating a registered monarch butterfly weigh station on county-owned property along the creek near the courthouse.
“That will be really good for a youth group to plant that,” he said.
His second proposal is a pollinator garden that the Beekeepers Association would sponsor.
“The plot of land, they have not decided exactly where they want it,” Howard said. “It has to be county-owned property. They are looking for that.”
Howard said association members could take part in planting and maintaining the garden.
“We can get some signage and some marketing,” he said. “‘Pollinator garden provided by Martin County Beekeepers Association,’ I think that would be really good.”
The pollinator project could begin in April or May with the start of the growing season.
“Once we get all of that together, we will figure out the plot of land,” Howard said. “The funding I am not worried about because it is not going to cost us any money. It is just going to cost us our labor collectively to get that area filled up and get seeds out. It will not be difficult to fund.”
Howard’s third proposal involves using county-appropriated agriculture funds to establish a Beekeepers Association apiary.
“This is huge for this Beekeepers Association,” he said. “You have the opportunity, collectively, to use county-appropriated funds to have a Beekeepers Association apiary, where maybe we buy as many hives as you all want to buy, whether two, three or five. That will determine how much we want to apply for.”
Howard noted that the area behind the extension office could be space for the apiary and possibly an additional pollinator garden.
“Anything you all want to do as a club, we can use those funds to fund that,” he said. “What that ultimately does, nine months out of the year, everything educational that you all want to do as a group, we do not have to be sitting right here; we can go out there. We can get hands-on with it.”
According to Howard, an apiary would allow the association to use county funds that the county would otherwise “lose.”
“A beginner bee school or intermediate bee school that we can host as a county, that is huge,” said Howard. “This gives us the opportunity to do that hands-on. It would be a great fundraising tool for this group.”
Howard explained that the association’s funding request would first go before the county agricultural council. If approved, the application would then move to the state, which could choose to match the funds.
“If this group applies for $1,500, it can go to the state of Kentucky and come back $3,000,” he said. “That is never a guarantee.”
Funding would come through the County Agricultural Investment Program, which provides cost-share financing for Kentucky farmers to improve farm income, efficiency and diversification. The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund supplies the money, and the Martin County Conservation District administers the program locally.
Members supported the idea and voted to apply for funding for four hives.