Five Years of Listening: What the Bees at Galbreath Are Teaching Us

In this podcast we are delighted share the results of five years of ecological monitoring at Galbreath Wildlands Preserve, one of the most sustained observations of honeybee colonies living as part of a wild landscape anywhere in the US.

Michael Thiele, founder of Apis Arborea, is joined by Dr. Benjamin Rutschmann, visiting from Germany, to walk us through what this long-term work has revealed. Among the findings: colony lifespans and survival rates that challenge prevailing assumptions about what honeybees are capable of when they live on their own terms, as well as insights into natural colony densities. We explore what the free-living population at Galbreath is teaching us about the resilience of the wild, and how these colonies serve as a compass point for innovative models of apiculture that draw on biomimicry and integrate evolutionary processes.

About Dr. Benjamin Rutschmann

Benjamin Rutschmann is a honeybee researcher and ecologist whose work centers on wild-living colonies, their nesting sites, and the forage resources that sustain them. He received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 2022. Together with Patrick Kohl, he published the first systematic survey of wild-living honeybee colonies in Europe, confirming that self-sustaining populations still exist in Central European forests. He has since studied colony life histories and survival across Germany, Spain, and Switzerland, and has contributed to research projects spanning Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Most recently, he co-authored a framework for assessing wild Apis mellifera populations that helped inform their classification as an Endangered taxon on the IUCN Red List in the EU.

About Michael Thiele

Michael Thiele is the founder and Executive Director of Apis Arborea, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring wild, free-living honeybee populations and their ecological relationships. His work integrates field research, habitat restoration, and education to support resilient pollinator communities, with a focus on biomimicry, low-density systems, and evolutionary processes. Michael's approach bridges science and the humanities, exploring how humans can participate more responsibly within living systems. He is currently leading Apis Arborea's 7-year field study on wild honeybee populations at Galbreath Wildlands Preserve, which will be the focus of this Salon. Michael is also a co-founder of the Arboreal Apiculture Salon.

A major development has recently emerged in pollinator conservation. Wild honeybees in parts of Europe have now been classified as Endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. What does this designation mean for honeybees, ecosystems, and the future of pollination? In this Arboreal Apiculture Salon, we explore the scientific, ecological, and conservation implications of this landmark recognition. The conversation examines the status of free-living honeybee populations in Europe, the drivers behind their decline, and how this moment may reshape the way honeybees are understood within conservation science and agricultural systems.
 

We are honored to welcome two distinguished voices for this discussion:

• Steve Rogenstein, co-founder of Honey Bee Watch, a global coalition tasked with better understanding the factors that bolster free-living honey bees' survival,
• Arrigo Moro, researcher at the Italian National Reference Center for Beekeeping and Honey Bee Health, and co-founder of Honey Bee Watch.
 

Together we reflect on what this moment signals for wild honeybee conservation and explore emerging approaches that support resilient, free-living pollinator populations within living landscapes. 

We are honored to welcome Laura Pustarfi, Ph.D. to the Salon. Laura is Director of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Certificate Program and a lecturer in Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her work bridges plant studies, integral ecology, environmental philosophy, and psychedelic scholarship. She is co-editor of The Wisdom of Trees: Thinking Through Arboreality and serves on the board of The Plant Initiative, with ongoing contributions to the Plant Perspectives journal. Laura brings a rare blend of rigorous scholarship, ecological insight, and artistic sensibility to her work and teaching.

It was an honor to have Dr. Robert Mutisi from Zimbabwe as our guests at the Salon. Robert is a professional forester who specialises in commercial and social forestry plantation development. A passionate beekeeper and trainer who contributes to improved African beekeeping systems that addresses sustainable issues related to poverty, hunger, and the environment. Robert has pioneered a Nature-based Beekeeping approach in Zimbabwe where communities in marginal areas have realised their potential. The use of low-cost hives made from local material, bee ecology and native species, inclusivity, non-hive centric, scalability and sustainability have been key issues around Nature-based Beekeeping. He holds an MBA, MALIC (Master of Arts in Leading Innovation and Change), and a PhD degree in Agriculture focusing on honey production and marketing and several international qualifications on development work. Robert is also a beekeeping article writer that comes out in professional journals, honey steward and judge and an international speaker on issues related to African beekeeping systems. More info about Robert's work at Working for Bees and at robertmu@mbd.co.zw.

It was an honor to have Bas Blaasse as our guest at the Salon. He is a writer, researcher, and filmmaker based in Brussels. His work explores the intersections of art, visual culture, philosophy, and ecology-often tracing connections between aesthetic practices and the conceptual or material realities they engage with. Together with artist Aladin Borioli, he published the book "Bannkörbe", an anthology of ceremonial use of masks in historical beekeeping. His current research focuses on collective practices in the arts and the historical development of the notion of landscape. He is also working on a documentary about nature management in the Netherlands. Bas studied philosophy in Leuven and Berlin and photography in Breda, and he received the 2023 C/O Berlin Talent Award in Theory.