A honey bee pollinates a raspberry bush on June 9 in Whatcom County. About 1.7 million honey bee colonies — nearly 60% of all such hives in the country — were lost between June 2024 and March 2025.

Hundreds of flatbed loads of honey bees are trucked into Washington every spring, enabling the production of apples, cherries, pears and berries in the state. The pollinators are estimated to add at ...