Contact: Tom Cook 406-444-1645 Release: Receipt

SWEET HISTORY OF MONTANA BEE INDUSTRY TOPIC AT MJHS

                The Montana Historical Society will be abuzz on Thursday (Feb. 2) at 6:30 p.m. with the sweet and not so sweet history of the bee industry in Montana.

                Retired Deer Lodge park ranger and Independent Record columnist Lyndel  Meikle will present a free public program, “Bee Mine: A Honey of a History,” to tell the story of the relationship between man, bees  and agriculture.

                In the early 1900s a knapweed invasion in the Bitterroot Valley wreaked havoc  on agriculture, and farmers ultimately responded by increasing honey production.  Meikle will begin her story with those efforts and tie them in to efforts to increase bee populations statewide.

Meikle worked for many years at the historic Grant Kohrs ranch near Deer Lodge for many years and has studied the history of ranching and agriculture from an up close perspective. She said the program will “reveal the identity of the real owners of the honey industry” in Montana.