Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 48.0022, -118.9557

Estimated forage here is better than about 14% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (75th percentile) and lowest in summer (10th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 1.1 mi NE, grown 3 of the last 5 years); apples (nearest 2.6 mi N). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 43rd percentile (spring 51st, summer 59th, fall 74th)
  • Washington: 14th percentile (spring 37th, summer 10th, fall 75th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 40th percentile (spring 56th, summer 33rd, fall 62nd)

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, Arrowleaf balsamroot, Native wildflowers
  • Main flow: Apr 1 to Aug 31 — Native wildflowers, Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Fall flow: Sep 16 to Sep 30 — Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Apples: about 8 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.9 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.6 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 3 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.4 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.2 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

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