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Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

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The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 46.1374, -117.1327

Estimated forage here is better than about 44% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (93rd percentile) and lowest in spring (31st). Biggest nearby bee crops: canola (nearest 0.5 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); chickpeas (nearest 0.8 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 74th percentile (spring 47th, summer 82nd, fall 91st)
  • Washington: 44th percentile (spring 31st, summer 62nd, fall 93rd)
  • Columbia Plateau: 83rd percentile (spring 46th, summer 87th, fall 94th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Washington, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Willows, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Aug 31 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Nov 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Canola: about 30 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NW, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 47 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Canola: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NW, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Chickpeas: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 78 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Canola, Willows; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Alfalfa, Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Snowberry; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Snowberry, Alfalfa; extra light amber

Things to watch

  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021-2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.