Long Beach Beekeepers

Our Story

Helping Bees & Beekeepers since 2012

Incorporated as a Nonprofit in 2018

Long Beach Beekeepers is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to educating the public about alternatives to killing unwanted honey bee colonies. Founding members Dick Barnes, Roberta Kato, Henry Kurland and Barbara Sinclair started the group in February 2012, meeting monthly and working tirelessly to rescue bees and promote the club at community events.

Club meetings focused on sharing best beekeeping practices and providing an informative environment for both the novice and the experienced beekeeper. The word spread and membership grew.

Long Beach Beekeepers lobbied the City of Long Beach to amend the municipal code allowing urban agriculture, including bees. That measure passed unanimously in 2015, making backyard bees legal in Long Beach. The ordinance includes regulations such as a limit on the number of hives per residence.

The growing strength of the club and the increasing awareness of the plight of the honey bee led to more challenges. As word spread that honey bees could be relocated rather than exterminated, rescuers faced a shortage of private property to house rescued bees. Beginning in 2013, Long Beach Beekeepers began working with the City of Long Beach to create a bee sanctuary. The concept was to provide a temporary home for rescued bees that would later be adopted by qualified beekeepers. The Willow Springs Bee Sanctuary opened in 2017.

Urban environments provide honey bees and native bees with amazingly diverse forage. In return, the bees provide pollination services and an index of environmental health. , and honey bees can even be managed to provide fresh, local honey.

Determined more could be accomplished as a nonprofit, Long Beach Beekeepers began the incorporation process in 2016 with the help of local attorney David Zeligs. His work with a core group of volunteers resulted in the club becoming a full-fledged nonprofit corporation in 2018.

A hexagonal structure in the Willow Springs Bee Sanctuary provides stands for hive boxes, room to work the bees and an open top to give the bees in and out privileges.

Willow Springs Bee Sanctuary

The Willow Springs Bee Sanctuary provides a temporary home for bee swarms while we search for a permanent home with a qualified beekeeper.

The club founders began pursuing the bee refuge concept in 2013. The City of Long Beach's Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine approved the project in 2016 and we celebrated our grand opening in 2017. Plans to open moved forward with assistance from the Office of Sustainability.

In addition to the land adjacent to Willow Springs Park, we needed a structure to enclose the hives and allow the bees to come and go to forage for food and water. That led to a terrific partnership with Long Beach Boy Scout Troop 105 and Eagle Scout candidate Mauri Lathouwers. The Scouts cleared and prepped the site before building a screened, roofless structure with benches to hold hive boxes.

Willow Spring Bee Sanctuary Rules