Millions of bees scattered across a roadside embankment near Diamond Lake after a semi-truck overturned March 17, triggering an urgent recovery effort.
Tyler Hawkins, a local middle school art teacher and amateur beekeeper, was among the first of a handful of local beekeepers to respond. He said he arrived to the accident site on Highway 230 to find smashed pallets and broken hives spread about 70 yards down an embankment toward the Rogue River.
With tens of thousands of bees in each of the 400 hives, Hawkins and a small group of beekeepers worked for hours to salvage what they could, carefully working through layers of damaged comb and gathering clusters of bees to transfer them into usable equipment.
The bees were returning from pollinating almond orchards in California. Hawkins said monoculture farming requires transporting hives over long distances, increasing the risk of accidents.
Hawkins said supporting small farms and creating habitats that sustain both native bees and European honeybees could help reduce those risks.
The rescued colonies are recovering at an apiary at Jackson Wellsprings, though Hawkins said they remain “very temperamental” after the ordeal.
He said he was stung immediately upon arriving at the scene.
Despite the danger, Hawkins described the effort as a community service, noting that bee losses nationwide reached about 62% last year. He said each rescued hive helps sustain an increasingly fragile food system.
- Tyler Hawkins, amateur beekeeper
