Amy Owen, an Albuquerque beekeeper and owner of Desert Hives, is committed to honeybee health; which is accomplished through mentorship, education, mite testing, hive reports and advocacy.
“Bringing them into the environment, you’re increasing the amount of pollination that’s going on in that area and so the seeds in this area will be pollinated and spread and so it enables more growth of plants," Owen told station KOB 4 recently.
Two new honeybee colonies are now calling Albuquerque home. The colonies, which are approximately 120,000 bees strong, have been brought to the state by Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico to boost the area’s ecosystem.
"Blue Cross and Blue Shield are working with an international company called Alvéole and they have beehives in Europe, Canada and here in America,” Owen said.
The bees are checked regularly by Owen to make sure they're doing their jobs, which is to fly up to three miles to collect nectar, which will help improve the pollination of local flowers and crops in the Albuquerque metro area; KOB 4 reported. These bees will provide over 30 pounds of honey on a good year, with the expectation of additional boxes added to the hive as the colony grows.
“This is the first time we’ve really brought bees to our building to really show off their environmental sustainability to our employees, so this is super exciting for us and it’s super exciting for me because, again, I’ve never seen this in action," Consuelo Bolagh-Cowder, an employee of Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, told KOB 4.