Forming New Partnerships

We are excited to announce that Eaton Conservation District has received a grant from Walmart Giving! Michigan Arbor Day Alliance, a program of Eaton Conservation District, is partnering up with the Heroes to Hives program to donate trees to our veterans.

Heroes to Hives is a program at Michigan State University designed to help veterans by teaching them beekeeping skills. The program uses beekeeping to address the financial and personal wellness of veterans through professional training and community development. Veterans work in teams to manage hives, so they leave the program with personal and professional relationships that open opportunities and ensure long-term support along with the skills to successfully manage a small beekeeping operation. Heroes to Hives graduates will have opportunities for small business ownership, employment in commercial beekeeping operations, and ways to diversify their farm incomes. The partnership between veterans and honey bees represents a new mission for our nation’s heroes as they learn to manage our smallest and most important livestock.

Trees are great food and nesting sources for bees. The fruit trees will provide veterans enrolled in the Heroes to Hives program with a fresh food source while also sustaining the needs of their future bee farms.

​The trees will be planted on veteran’s land/bee farms this spring!