They're not foxes or rabbits, but conservationists say honey bees are an introduced species that threaten wildlife and a bill that allows access to national parks set to pass Queensland's parliament should be abandoned.
They are at odds with relieved beekeepers and farmers who, under current legislation, would have lost access to the sites they said were critical for food production.
Commercial apiarists use 1,088 sites in former state forests to feed bees before they go to work on farms for pollination.
Those forests have been converted to national parks and in 2020 the state government promised to extend access, which would have expired in 2024, to 2044.
The State Development and Regional Industries Committee has now recommended the draft legislation be passed, a move welcomed by Queensland Beekeepers' Association president Jacob Stevens.
"These areas … hold really unique resources for beekeeping, [they] provide a really good balance of nutrition for bees," he said.
"Bees need a really good variety of nectar and pollen to maintain their health, and these areas provide that resource."
But conservation groups like Friends of Nerang National Park argue that allowing European bees to stay in the parks goes against the purpose of the reserves.
"The cardinal principle of national park management and the reason why Friends of Nerang National Park exists is to control invasive species," founder Jessica Lovegrove-Walsh said.
"In Nerang National Park … the honey bees had swarmed and started to turn feral and occupy hollows that are critical habitat for a lot of our native fauna such as the greater glider, which is now listed as endangered."
She said it was hard to accept beekeepers would have access for another 20 years, when they had not considered alternatives previously.
'It's a good start'
While happy that access had been extended, Mr Stevens hoped more work could be done so the industry did not face uncertainty again.
He said colonies were usually only in a park for up to six weeks, often on five-yearly rotations, and the industry worked hard to minimise the impact on native species.
"We hold those areas and those resources pretty tightly and pretty proudly as families across a vast area.
"There might be 1,088 bee sites in national parks but not all of those sites would hold bees at any given time and it can be quite a long time between usages and occupations.
"Commercial beekeepers are doing their very best to manage their bees in a way so that there are not any ecological impacts from our commercial honey bees being there."
The committee also recommended clear guidelines for beekeeping in national parks be developed and a plan to identify alternative sites be adopted.
Mr Stevens said it was very hard to find alternative resources for the bees that were not already in use.
"We travel the length and breadth of the state and reach into other states for our resources," he said.
"If we can't find them, it'll be a very challenging thing for government to find them."
Ms Lovegrove-Walsh called on farmers to set aside corridors and replant them with native species to replace the reliance on national parks.
"I am definitely a firm believer that we need the honey bees for agricultural production," she said.
"There's often this misconception that planting out corridors might lead to a loss of productivity but there's a number of research items out there that says it's quite the opposite.
"It just requires a new way of thinking about the land and the landscape."
Bee corridors not feasible
Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers chief executive Bree Grima made a submission to the committee in support of the bill.
She said national parks remained the best option to support the bees that were critical to horticulture.
"National parks provide that great habitat for them and I guess the overall footprint of what they're taking up is certainly not significant at all," she said.
"We need to make the best use of the land that we've got around us, and passing this legislation is a good balance of that."
In a statement of reservation, LNP and Katter's Australian Party committee members called for access to be granted in perpetuity.
Ms Grima said growers were happy for now that the state government had delivered on its election promise to extend access for 20 years.
"So many of our commodities that we do grow here are heavily reliant on bee pollination for their productivity and for being able to get that product to market," she said.
"It's good that that's progressed, but now we need to get back on with what we do best and just letting letting these great little workers do their job."
The Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 can now go before parliament to be voted on and made into law.
