David Noonan

FAX 413-545-2115
Phone 413-625-0055

dnoonan "at" rcn.com *

David Noonan has been an avid beekeeper since 1991, when he took Dick Bonney's beekeeping course in the Spring of that year. In the Spring of 2001, he gave Mr. Bonney a call and talked with him about revitalizing the beekeeping program at UMass Amherst, which had fallen into serious disrepair. All the colonies had died, the apiary was overgrown and litter strewn, and the storage shed was full of trash and equipment.

After speaking with Anne Averill, interim chair of the department 2000-2001, plans were set into motion to restore the apiary and the beekeeping program to its former glory. Old infested equipment and trash were disposed of, an area in the apiary was tilled and planted with bee forage, and new packages were installed on fresh foundation. Chris Jasperson in the Entomology main office was instrumental in getting the physical department on board with the project.

More conversations with Anne Averill resulted in the planning and subsequent offering of Practical Beekeeping-Ent 166 for the Fall Semester 2001 through the division of Continuing Education. The class has been highly successful with undergrad and community participants eager to learn about beekeeping and some students going on to keep bees themselves.

Additionaly, Dave has given 2 NOFA Summer Conference workshops at the apiary and led a 2 day tracheal mite dissection workshop for the Barnstable Beekeepers Association at Cape Cod Community College, Summer 2002, on behalf of the University.

Dave was awarded a certificate of appreciation for demonstrating excellence in teaching from UMass Amherst Continuing Education.

Specialties

Honeybees

Selected Publications

*The use of "at" rather than the traditional @ is an attempt to keep spam "spiders" from harvesting our email addresses.