The buzz around base Published May 21, 2021 By Airman Juliana Londono 9RW/PA BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The environmental section of the 9th Civil Engineer Squadron here at Beale Air Force Base, California, plays an important role in keeping the environment safe. A prime example of this is Blaze Baker and his bees. Blaze Baker, 9th Civil Engineer Squadron installation management flight chief, took the initiative in saving the bees here on base. He has taken six hives from around base and has been keeping them here until they are strong enough to be relocated. By removing these hives, Baker has made it easier for the people of Recce Town to accomplish their missions. “In a couple of cases, some projects we had would have been slowed down,” Baker said. “By the time they would have gotten an exterminator on base to deal with the bees at the Doolittle gate, that project would have been delayed a few more days.” Baker, who has a long agricultural background enjoys getting things directly from nature, which he is able to do with these bees. He likes the process of taking something raw and converting it into a packaged product. Furthermore, he makes the lives of his coworkers easier by taking something off their plate. “Our entomology shop is one or two people, so it's one less thing they have to do and we are salvaging something,” Baker said. “It's nice to keep the pollinators in the environment, even though they are not native, they are still serving a purpose.” The environmental section of installation management is in charge of many things on base including the grazing program and the natural resource program. Like the environmental section, bees also play an important role in nature and without them, the world would be a very different place therefore it is important to take care of them whenever possible. The installation management team works hard to continuously support conservation efforts on base. They plan to keep creating projects that will improve the environment in the future, continuing to make Beale a better place.