Seattle Airport and Honeybees~ Now Boarding!

[riverbee]

this is a short podcast of an mpr science friday broadcast on beehives on the seattle, washington Sea Pac airport property, and also additional forage plantings.  pretty cool!

podcast and info here:

Airport Apiaries, Now Boarding

"After you slide your bags past the scanner, put your shoes back on, and head down the airport concourse to your gate, take a moment to look outside. There's a lot of open space at an airport—around the runways and next to the control tower, and as “buffer” land set up between the airport and nearby properties. And while that space may not seem like a great natural habitat, at several airports around the world, hundreds of thousands of creatures are now calling it home. We’re talking bees. The trend started in Germany several years ago, but now several U.S. airports also host beehives. Bob Redmond, a beekeeper and director of The Common Acre, says the success of the hives that his group manages at Sea-Tac airport in Washington State is a sign of an improved habitat for other native pollinators."

also, related articles:

Sea-Tac Airport adds 500,000 bees

Airport slates 50 acres to Flight Path project

Flight Path: Bees, A Hackathon And Sea-Tac Airport

very cool!
i looked up where the honey was being sold, not in airport gift shops, but to select zipcodes by bicylce delivery in seattle, and two retail stores (natural food stores). 1 pd jars are being sold for 15 dollars a pound!

[Bakersdozen]

Thanks for reposting riverbee.  Glad you checked on the honey sales for this project, because I was curious.  Bob Redmond and some others in Seattle seem to have set up quite a networking system.

[efmesch]

Hope the pilots don't put an end to the project when they realize what "cleaning flights" can do to them.