CA Chico/Willows: Environmental education volunteering at the Honeybee Discovery Center in Orland

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About HONEYBEE DISCOVERY CENTER

Location:

501 WALKER ST, ORLAND, CA 95963, US

Mission Statement

To advance the public’s understanding of honeybees and to create and promote a culture of bee awareness.

Description

The Honeybee Discovery Center is designed to teach the public about honeybees and the rich history of beekeeping in Northern California. The Center is not only a place for the public and schools to learn about honeybees but also a place for the beekeeping community to display items that are part of beekeeping and its history.

Beekeeping has always been a vital industry in Northern California agricultural area. Honeybees became even more important as the number of almond trees grew in the northern counties and more beehives were needed for pollination.

Northern California is also excellent for queen bee rearing, with tens of thousands of queen bees produced annually, which led to the designation of Orland as the Queen Bee Capital of North America. Eighty percent of the queen bees used in the United States are raised here in Butte, Glenn, Shasta, and Tehama counties. Orland is also the 44th "Bee City, USA" with a commitment to creating greater awareness and an environment that protects honeybees and other pollinators.

Yvonne Koehnen, a longstanding and highly respected part of a local beekeeping family, originated the idea of the Honeybee Discovery Center, and the Honeybee Discovery Center board is working to recognize the goal of a new center that will further its mission of teaching the public about honeybees and other pollinators.