As a biologist, I must disagree with your statement that "prairie grass left
alone takes over everything. Like pines in Ontario,  or Manzinita and scrub
brush in south Texas."


My apologies,  I gave a lousy explanation.  I was referring to wastelands as
from the point of bees.  Not biodiversity.
Our corn and bean field are actually very diverse.  Goldenrod, Mustard,
yellow rocket, morning glories,  and many other plants grow well.

From a bees point of view though they as well as many areas of the prairie
and woodlots are pretty close to one hit wonders.  Were that not true  The
Ontario and Texas scrub would be the same honey meccas that or the Dakotas
and miles of the hay monoculture.  Not sure of The Sacramento valley,  would
there be much there if it were not for irrigated almonds and such??  (as for
bee food

Any info in the number of hives in AZ and NV??  I think you will find huge
areas there untouched,  and less than acceptable for bee colonies to thrive
and produce.

My point was to understand that even the large areas of corn and beans,
from a bee and honey collection standpoint,  are not a lot different than
many natural occurring areas where bee forage is a lot less than ideal.

I would also point out that even in most "monoculture" areas, that is quite
off the mark, as many off season plants (weeds) thrive.

My apologies for a bad explanation.  Sometimes I don't type things out well
enough.

Charles

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