Half a million honey bees take flight at Seattle airport

A new buzz at Sea-Tac: The bees have landed:  In partnership with a Seattle non-profit, the airport has installed six hives on vacant land. Like most airports, Sea-Tac has a big buffer zone of undeveloped, open space (for safety and to mitigate the noise of plane take-offs and landings) that makes a perfect home for bees.

With honey bee populations in drastic decline in the U.S., using the airport vacant land made sense, said airport officials.  They partnered with the Seattle group The Common Acre which promotes healthy agriculture through small-scale, practical  programs. Bees are crucial to pollinating U.S.  crops and flowering plants.