A semitruck hauling crates of bees tipped over inside Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday morning, spilling hives along Highway 191 and creating an unusual cleanup effort near the park’s western edge.
The crash happened around 8 a.m. near mile marker 17 on Highway 191, according to EastIdahoNews.com. The trailer spilled dozens of crates carrying bees onto the road and the shoulder of the highway.
There were no reported injuries.
Yellowstone National Park said staff responded to the scene and were working with the owners to salvage as many bees as possible. The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Department, Hebgen Basin Fire/EMS, Montana Department of Transportation, and Montana Department of Agriculture also assisted.
“Although the highway remains open, expect delays and traffic control measures as cleanup and mitigation work continue at the site of the accident,” the park said in a statement to EastIdahoNews.com.
Hives Scattered Across the Highway
Video from the scene showed damaged hives scattered across the highway as bees swarmed the area. People in white protective gear could be seen walking near the crash site while crews worked along the road.
West Yellowstone resident Dalton Broadus told Cowboy State Daily he was driving north along Highway 191 around 9 a.m. Tuesday when he passed the scene.
Broadus said damaged and destroyed beehives were scattered across roughly a quarter-mile stretch of road. Bees were swarming vehicles in the area, tow trucks and a Yellowstone ambulance were on scene, and someone in a beekeeping suit was already assessing the situation.
“It happened about an hour before I got there, I believe,” Broadus said.
James Peterson, dispatch manager for Eaton Road Solutions, said his company received a call from the National Park Service to recover the overturned semitruck.
Peterson said the company brought three recovery trucks and two traffic-control trucks from Idaho Falls. It took about three hours to get the truck back upright.
The company planned to return to the scene Wednesday night to begin recovering the damaged hives and, hopefully, the bees that had been inside them.
“We’ve been working one-on-one with the company, and they’re trying to save what they can,” Peterson said.
The Crash May Have Involved Millions of Bees
The exact number of bees on the trailer has not been confirmed by Yellowstone National Park.
However, the number could be very large.
EastIdahoNews.com reported that a standard transport crate can hold tens of thousands of bees. Cheyenne beekeeper Michael Jordan told Cowboy State Daily that an average honey box can hold between 75,000 and 125,000 bees.
Jordan said a semitruck like the one that crashed can carry 250 to 500 honey boxes, and potentially more depending on how the load is arranged.
Based on those estimates, the crash may have involved millions of bees.
Jordan called the incident “a devastating loss” for the owners of the hives. After viewing video of the crash scene, he estimated that perhaps 40% to 50% of what was there might be salvageable.
He also said the financial loss could be significant. According to Jordan, each honey box can cost around $500 and may generate about $2,000 in profit from honey production.
Crews Had a Short Window to Save the Bees
Recovering the bees is not as simple as picking up broken boxes.
Jordan said the first several hours after a crash like this can be critical because the truck drivers, insurance company, hive owners, and response agencies all have to coordinate quickly.
That process is even more complicated inside Yellowstone, where visitor safety, traffic control, and the surrounding ecosystem all have to be considered.
Surviving bees may begin moving on if new hive boxes are not set up quickly. Jordan said the queens are likely to search for safer locations, and other bees may follow their pheromone trail.
“If you can’t get new hives set up in 48 hours, the queens will migrate,” Jordan said.
The best recovery strategy, he said, is to locate surviving queens and place them into new or rebuilt honey boxes. Once new housing is set up, bees may move into those locations within about 24 hours.
Jordan has helped coordinate a similar recovery effort before after a bee-hauling truck was involved in an incident near Arlington, Wyoming. In that case, crews recovered about 70% of the bees by quickly setting up new honey boxes near the scene.
Highway 191 Stayed Open, But Delays Were Expected
Despite the crash and cleanup, Highway 191 remained open.
The park warned drivers to expect delays and traffic control while cleanup and mitigation work continued.
That section of Highway 191 runs through the northwestern corner of Yellowstone near West Yellowstone. During the summer, it can be a busy route for local traffic, park visitors, commercial vehicles, and RVers.
Broadus said he drives the road daily during the summer and believes drivers need to slow down in that area.
“I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents like this,” he said. “People speed quite a bit and pass within tight margins of oncoming traffic. They need to slow down.”
The cause of the crash has not been reported.
Sources: Cowboy State Daily and EastIdahoNews.com
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