S.L. Main Library keeping busy with honeybees

SALT LAKE CITY — Things are all abuzz on the roof of one of downtown's busiest buildings.

Tens of thousands of European honeybees have been caching their precious nectar in hives placed in a rooftop nook at the Salt Lake Main Library since late spring, and by the end of the summer will hold some 200 pounds of honey. The project is equal parts education and promotion, aimed at revealing the wonder of the world of bees and touting a new city ordinance that allows for beekeeping in city limits.

Library director Beth Elder said Monday that the hives have been a source of excitement for library visitors, who can view the bees' homes through a window off a fifth-floor staircase.

"Some children just stop and stare when they see the bees at work," Elder said. "Having the hives here is a reminder for all of the important role bees play in our food production … and a great, new aspect of Mayor (Ralph) Becker's plan to enhance urban agriculture."

Frank Whitby, a University of Utah medical researcher, stepped up as the city's beekeeper and has been tending the library hives since they were placed on the roof in June. He said there are many misnomers about bee behavior, with one of the biggest being that they're aggressive.

"These honeybees will generally just go about the business at hand," Whitby said. "They're interested in gathering pollen, and unless they're directly threatened, will mostly ignore you."

Salt Lake City Council Chairman J.T. Martin, an avid amateur beekeeper, championed a new city statute allowing for urban beekeeping earlier this year. Backyard hives had been off limits since the '80s, when concerns were raised about the influx of aggressive, Africanized "killer bees." Martin said those worries were ungrounded and that he loves the five hives he keeps at his Yalecrest home.

"It's been a great thing to have the hives," Martin said. "We've got an 80-year-old pear tree that's producing more than it ever has, thanks to the bees."

Martin said there are more than 100 hives registered in the city, and he's heard only positive feedback from constituents since the ordinance was passed. While freshly legal in Salt Lake, Martin said urban beekeeping is not unusual.

"New York City is a huge beekeeping city," Martin said. "You don't think about it, but there are flowers and flowering trees in the city that it's a great place to keep a hive."

Elder said the library is working on putting together an event where Salt Lake residents can come taste the city's honey harvest at summer's end.

Last month, Becker unveiled a long-term plan to update city ordinances to promote sustainable practices, and the revamp is likely to include a number of changes aimed at enhancing urban food production. Becker spokeswoman Lisa Harrison-Smith said allowing for city beekeeping "fits very nicely with that plan."

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com