Melanie Kirby
Melanie Kirby has been keeping bees professionally for 28 years. The bees have guided her around the globe exposing her to the broader concepts and implications of land stewardship, agroecology, food systems, and diverse world views on conservation and outreach. She co-founded Zia Queenbees Farm & Field Institute in 2005, located on The High Road to Taos in the southern Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico. There she specializes in breeding regionally adaptive bees, supporting area pollination needs, and working on community outreach efforts with Indigenous land stewards, and whole-systems field research.
Melanie serves on several boards and participates in various organizations promoting healthy habitat research and policy efforts. She is a 2025 NM Grown & NM Food & Ag Policy Council Golden Chile Living Land Award for Outstanding Leadership in Land Stewardship, 2024 United Nations KnowledgeMaker, 2024 Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Leadership Fellow, 2024 FutureEarth 17 Rooms Delegate, 2023 Slow Food U.S. Delegate, 2023 NM Coalition to Enhance Working Lands Community Collaborations Fellow, 2019-2020 Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, and a 2023 Grist 50 Climate Fixer. She has recently been appointed by the US Secretary of Agriculture to the inaugural Pollinator Subcommittee of the National Ag Research, Ext Education, and Economics Advisory Board.
She is a tribal member of Tortugas Pueblo- a state- recognized Indigenous community located in southern New Mexico. As a mestiza of mixed Indo-Hispano and Caribbean ancestry – her multicultural perspectives inspire her to collaborate across cultures and landscapes promoting healthy pollinator conservation efforts. She works as the Extension Educator for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, pairing Traditional Ecological Knowledge with western sustainable agriculture science. Melanie is also a writer, consilience researcher, artist, mother, and advocate for regenerative land stewardship and healthy food systems.