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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.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

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 47.9034, -114.0293

Estimated forage here is better than about 43% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (94th percentile) and lowest in fall (1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: cherries (right here). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 30th percentile (spring 45th, summer 60th, fall 32nd)
  • Montana: 43rd percentile (spring 94th, summer 37th, fall 1st)
  • Canadian Rockies: 10th percentile (spring 94th, summer 4th, fall 0th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 31 — Snowberry, Huckleberries, Willows
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Cherries: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi SW, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 9 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi S, blooms early May – late May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Willows, Huckleberries, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Huckleberries, Native wildflowers, Fireweed; water white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Alfalfa; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Snowberry, Huckleberries, Willows, Dandelion; amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cherries, sweet: insecticides used on about 84% of surveyed US acres (2025); Cherries, tart: insecticides used on about 45% of surveyed US acres (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.
  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.