Airport Apiaries, Now Boarding

After you slide your bags past the scanner, put your shoes back on, and head down the airport concourse to your gate, take a moment to look outside. There’s a lot of open space at an airport—around the runways and next to the control tower, and as “buffer” land set up between the airport and nearby properties. And while that space may not seem like a great natural habitat, at several airports around the world, hundreds of thousands of creatures are now calling it home. We’re talking bees. The trend started in Germany several years ago, but now several U.S. airports also host beehives. Bob Redmond, a beekeeper and director of The Common Acre, says the success of the hives that his group manages at Sea-Tac airport in Washington State is a sign of an improved habitat for other native pollinators.