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The Bee City USA designation marks an national initiative to shore up the pollinators ecosystem to reverse the decline of bees, which are essential to pollinate plants in the human food chain.
In 2015, Wright-Patterson set up several hives near Huffman Prairie Flying Field.
“The honey bee colonies at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are in excellent health,” Danielle Trevino, a Wright-Patterson natural resources technician said in a statement to this newspaper. “We started two years with approximately four colonies and approximately 50,000 bees. Today we have nine colonies and approximately 250,000 bees.”
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Two colonies will be relocated to a remote area of the base in the coming weeks, she said.
The base has a public “Pollinator Expo” with about two dozens groups expected to be on hand between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Wright Brothers Memorial off Kauffman Avenue. Phyllis Stiles, founder and and director of Bee City USA, was expected to be at the gathering.
The expo will be rescheduled to June 28 if inclement weather cancels the event.
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