I suspect your ground-nesting bees are bumble bees rather than honey bees.

Nope. Definitely know the difference between the two, but thanks.

Honey bees are a problem in New Mexico in ditch water metering boxes as well. There are periodic news items about swarms either leaving them, or living in them. I think your idea has much merit. One thing to consider is that many of the places where the bees are found are also somewhat moist, so you might want to either have a way to capture, funnel some rainwater into the ground of the hive, or some other way to keep the ground a bit damp. We had honey bees nesting in the ground with a rotten log as a base; I had the most interesting experience of disturbing them and having them bit me many times.
Renais

Thanks for the response Renais!

That's a good point about keeping the ground damp. I wonder though if this would make it difficult for bees to evaporate moisture from the honey?