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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 47.8434, -120.0128

Estimated forage here is better than about 39% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (71st percentile) and lowest in summer (11th). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 0.2 mi N); alfalfa (nearest 0.5 mi NW, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 70th percentile (spring 84th, summer 60th, fall 71st)
  • Washington: 39th percentile (spring 69th, summer 11th, fall 71st)
  • Columbia Plateau: 78th percentile (spring 94th, summer 34th, fall 54th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Maples
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to May 15 — Dandelion, Apples, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Fall flow: Jun 1 to Jul 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 51 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 23 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 80 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 60 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi NE, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 89 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi W, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 19 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Apples, Native wildflowers; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Yellow starthistle; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Garden flowers, Dandelion; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Apples; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 76% of acres in Washington (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.
  • 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.