By David Alfonse (outreach coordinator, Prescott Bee Club)

Residents and visitors love Yavapai County’s great outdoors and many experience the buzzing of our bees. Did you know Arizona and our central highlands are home to over 1300 native bee species? We dwell within diverse topography that gives rise to many different pollen and nectar sources for most of the year, creating a rich bounty of insects. Bees are small, but their contribution to local native indigenous cultures and early settlers in the Arizona Territory was immense. 

Before European contact, “stingless bees” (Melipona Beecheii) were utilized by indigenous Mayan and Aztec cultures in the Americas. Bee products were used for food, medicine and ceremonies, where a fermented drink like meade called balche was consumed. Wax was prized for use in burns. Major indigenous trade routes criss crossed central Arizona, making it possible that these bee products were traded and used locally by the Hohokam, known as “the ones who came before,” long before Arizona was a territory or state. Native bees were also important for the pollination and spread of squash, pumpkin and gourd cultivation in Arizona. Native bees are distinct from the now common honey bee species that came from Europe.