A Glen Rock property was assessed for its honey production potential by a group of four beekeepers, a DPI (Apiculture) officer and an officer from QPWS. Tracks were assessed on their suitability for transporting hives to a bee site. Potential bee sites were chosen during the field assessment, based on accessibility and the presence of suitable honey flora. Annual average yields of honey per hectare were estimated at 12 kg/ha per annum and 10 kg/ha per annum for the Ironbark and Brush Box types respectively. The quality of each was taken to be within the range of the highest grade, currently returning about $1.70 per kilogram. A total of 43 PUIDS was considered to be capable of producing commercial honey, with a total value of $65 832 per annum.
The property was also assessed for its potential to build hives prior to harvesting nectar for honey production or for crop pollination purposes. The supply of high-quality pollen in sufficient quantity to sustain and build bee colonies was the main criterion applied. A total of about 126 hectares of Forest Red Gum was judged to be accessible for about 4 weeks on average most years. However, potential for this purpose may be limited because of low temperatures experienced at Glen Rock in winter and spring.
The possible interactions between honey production and other open space values, namely nature conservation, recreation and grazing were outlined. It was concluded that apiculture is likely to be largely compatible with nature conservation. Compatibility could be achieved if bee sites were used only in times of peak nectar flows and not used for build unless pollen supplies were copious. In the case of interactions with recreation and grazing it was concluded that potential conflict could be avoided by careful placing of hives away from recreation nodes and infrastructure
associated with concentrations of grazing stock.