A new partnership will see beekeeping efforts continue to buzz in the area.
In January, the Timmins Ecological Beekeeping Association (TEBA) suffered a garage fire and all of its tools and equipment stored inside were burned. While the hives were far from the blaze, with no equipment or space to work in the future of TEBA was in question.
Kidd has stepped up with $5,000 in cash as well as in-kind donations of equipment. As part of the donation, the organization will also be co-branded as the Kidd Operations’ — Timmins Ecological Beekeeping Association Research and Education Site.
David Yaschyshyn, Kidd Operations manager of environment, said it’s the start of a partnership.
“It’s so important, climate change is happening all the time and we really need to understand how bees can thrive in the north,” he said.
For TEBA, the donation changes everything.
After the fire, an unsuccessful sleigh ride fundraiser was held. Since then, things have been turning around.
Kidd Operations committed to help, and a GoFundMe campaign has been set up.
“The whole point here is trying to make TEBA bigger, better and keep the research going and because of the generous donation of Kidd Creek operation Glencore we have everything basically to restart beekeeping. There’s a long way to go, but those are baby step that we’ll take, but at least TEBA still exists and research will keep going and tour will keep going,” said Rene Bertrand, TEBA founder and president.
The money has already been put to use.
“With the money itself, we just built a 10-by-10 small workshop so we can have a place that doesn’t leak on our head and we can put the hives,” he said. “And we bought a certain amount of bees, so that takes care of the five grand. The pump was extremely important because to where we are going to be working at I have to pump water because we need the pressure washer, we need all kinds of stuff to clean.”
For Kidd Operations, the grant is from its community partnership program.
Yaschyshyn said TEBA touches on three key areas: biodiversity conservation, environmental perspective and economic diversification.
“We know that bees play a key role in enhancing mine land reclamation as well as the educational component that happens here at TEBA basically explains that role to the public,” he said.
With agri-food businesses growing in the region, Yaschyshyn said TEBA’s research “is helping better understand how beekeeping can be done in northern and changing climates, which is really essential to the growth of the agricultural industry in the north.”
Now that TEBA has the tools to reopen, Bertrand hopes to start offering tours again in June.
If you want to help with the association’s rebuilding efforts, donations can be made here.
