The discovery of Apis nearctica (fig.1) inspires investigation into Apis mellifera. emigration, migration, and stewardship to delve deeper into the history of American honey bee genetics and how today’s gene flow of contemporary cousins to this ancestor bee has been impacted by land stewardship practices, selection, climate change and adaptation . These factors impress upon the increasing challenges of breeding resilient and adaptive ecotypes, especially as the movement of honey bees across the North American continent has not been with the upmost care of circumstance and at a detriment to biodiversity conservation (fig. 2) . This Research to Grassroots (RGR) grant funded by Western Sustainable Agriculture Research Education (WSARE) is based on two previously funded WSARE grants: The Southwest Survivor Queenbee Project (Kirby, 2007), and The Rocky Mountain Survivor Queenbee Cooperative (Kirby, 2012) .