As planes take off overhead, bees swarm around their hives closer to the ground.
“They’re a little active, because it’s just a nice warm afternoon," said Adam Dietry, assistant manager of environmental services at Akron-Canton Airport, as he walked toward wooden boxes of beehives on a small plot of airport land. "But they’re doing their own thing so they’re very docile.”
The airport covers more than 2,700 acres, according to officials. Much of it is natural space in and around the terminal and runways. The airport recently renewed a contract with local farmers as part of a bigger strategy to maintain and manage its natural resources.
It was Dietry’s idea to bring bees to the airfield two years ago. The airport is home to 96 hives that Dietry and the environmental services team manage with the help of Hartville Honey Bee Farm.
“It’s an idea to use the land, to utilize it for the greater good," he said.
Since the bees joined the ecosystem at the airport, there's been a buzz around the region, Dietry said. The North Canton Lions Club invited him to a meeting to speak about the airport's bees and are considering starting their own apiary, he said.
"That's our hope — to spread the idea to boost the population," he said. "That's our main goal."
The airport has even received thanks from local gardeners, including one from Uniontown.
"He noticed more bees in his garden, specifically his cucumber plants, so we sent him a free jar of honey, just out of appreciation since it's something new to us," Dietry said.
Earlier this year, the airport launched 1946 Honeybee Co., its own brand of honey made by the airport bees.
"Just seeing the behind-the-scenes of the bees, I think that's what they've really loved, as well as seeing how the honey is made, where the honey has come from," said Bailey Fisher, the airport's marketing and advertising coordinator. "Just seeing those behind-the-scenes portions of the airport has really sparked an interest in our community."
The honey has been a big hit with visitors of the airport — and its staff.
"It's actually fabulous," said David Regula, vice president of customer experience. "And I'm very fussy about my honey."
Regula is also a farmer, running his family's 100-acre farm in southern Stark County. A few years ago, he brought a new idea to airport leadership: let local farmers manage some of the airfield and harvest that hay for their cattle.
“I used to watch us mowing all these fields and stuff and thought, what a tremendous waste of grass and of a product that could be used for local farmers," he said.
Congress Lake Farm, a cattle farm in Mogadore, and Royer Farms, a dairy farm in Louisville, share the task, cutting nearly 100 acres of the airfield about twice per year.
"They're in and they're out," Regula said. "They literally can get it bailed and off the fields in one day."
The collaboration is also beneficial to the cows at Royer Farms, manager Dustin Royer said.
"It just makes a good feed for the heifers and the dry cows... and then ultimately turns into good milk," he said, adding that it's also helped the farm save money. "We make a lot of our own hay, but we do buy some hay at times, and it's really offset that, not having to buy additional hay."
The partnership builds on the airport’s goal of being good stewards of the land, Regula said.
"They [the community] like to see that the airport is working towards sustainability with the assets that they have, and I think that's really important," he said. "We have to be good stewards of the environment."
