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 48.7236, -118.1331

Estimated forage here is better than about 60% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in spring (65th percentile) and lowest in fall (50th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years); apples (nearest 3.4 mi SE). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.24 mi E.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 81st percentile (spring 75th, summer 82nd, fall 54th)
  • Washington: 60th percentile (spring 65th, summer 64th, fall 50th)
  • Northern Rockies: 84th percentile (spring 97th, summer 49th, fall 45th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Snowberry, Willows
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi S, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

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

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.