Many of the bee-trees I'll be trapping swarms from next Spring are in
the middle of forest. I don't see why not. Bees forage most intensely in
the closest 800' to the hive, then routinely out to a mile, and less so
out to five miles, depending on forage availability. But, they do travel
long distances to get to flowers. Here my bees routinely go off to a
mesquite field about a mile away. With a more routine 2 mile range, the
bees forage 12 square miles. At five miles - when there is a dearth of
nectar close by - that makes for 78 square miles of forage for the hive.
I would survey the surrounding area to see what opportunities the bees
have for forage. Often, tho, they'll find forage that we simply don't
see. Like the little tiny white flowers growing 3" from the ground that
I never notice until I hear the buzz of the bees working them. Or the
sumac tree that's in flower and is covered with bees. Also, I'd look for
beekeepers in the area and reports of feral bees too. That'll be a good
indicator of the suitabilty of having bees in your area. Here, my
property gets positively arid and I often don't see flowers anywhere and
would never have thought of having bees. But the bees have found forage
and are quite happy, even in the middle of a droughty year this year. So
sometimes you just have to jump in the water and see what happens.