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 Henry Kurland, Dick Barnes, Jaime Guoz, Roberta Kato and Barbara Sinclair started the group in 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. 

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.

Urban environments provide honey bees and other bees with amazingly diverse forage! In return, the bees give us an index of environmental health, pollinate important food crops, and can even be managed to provide fresh, local honey.
Photo by Jacob Dickinson.