A biologist friend of mine has been monitoring pollinators in the La Sal
Mountains of SE Utah for several years and this summer collected a single
Apis mellifera at between 11,800 and 12,000 feet. Tree-line at this
latitude (38.5 N) is between 11,000 and 11,500 ft. I haven't been able to
find any references to honey bees at high altitudes, but have found that
several species of bumble bees reach 13-14,000 ft in Colorado.

Does anyone have any knowledge of honey bees at very high altitudes? I
would think overwintering would be impossible, so they must be foraging
vertically a couple of thousand feet. I have heard of a bee tree at 8,000
ft in the same mountains, but never got there to confirm it.

Jerry Shue



Jerry Shue
867 Rainbow Drive
Moab, Utah 84532
Cell - 435-260-8581

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