This facility, on the UC Davis campus, is a small park dedicated to forage for bees and education for people. An international design competition was held, so the design is far from your usual "been there, seen done that/T-shirt" academic museum-like walk-through. There are some fun sculptures and interactive fountains/sculptures, hexagonally shaped areas of the park, 120-degree angles used whenever possible. These touches, as well as their overall concept, are what earned the winning design team the award.
The researchers hope to catalogue many varieties of native/wild bees not previously seen and to encourage bee-keeping among gardeners and nearby residents. The fondest hope of everyone who has learned about the Honey Bee Haven (a large sponsor of which is Haagen Dazs Ice Cream) is that organic/non-toxic methods will become more widely utilized and that bee-friendly/-yummy plants will be available year-round for these hard workers.
For an article in the local magazine, see https://www.davislifemagazine.com/2010/09/a-pollinators-paradise/
The article contains links to the UC Davis-hosted design pages, more info on the background and development of the Honey Bee Haven, detailed maps of the Honey Bee Haven, Entomology Dept. detail, etc. I'm not sure whether a virtual tour is up, but surely emailed requests
will help them get one on track sooner rather than later.DH and I will visit the Honey Bee Haven tomorrow; we had family obligations today in the opposite direction from our home, so had to miss the grand opening.
But tomorrow, we head northeast on a busman's holiday for DH (he works on the UC Davis campus...) to see bees. We hope! Or at least wish them in our direction.(But not *that* close; I'm anaphylactically allergic, should one take offense.
)BTW, the large sculpture of a honey bee which is at the head of the DavisLife magazine is named... Miss Bee Haven!
Anything we can do for our hard-working pollinators....
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9