West County’s first Wild Honeybee Trail: six living nest sites across Sebastopol, Graton, Forestville, Occidental, and Hessel, in the spirit of Art Trails and Farm Trails.
Wild Honeybee Trails carries that tradition forward, with living habitat at its heart. Over the coming year, farms, businesses, faith communities and neighbors will help choose, raise and care for six TreeNests across West County.
We’re inviting the whole community to join this project from the beginning. Hosts come forward through an open call application process (see link to apply below). Community members gather to raise each nest during spring swarm season. Local citizen scientists learn to monitor the honeybees on our Wild Honeybee Atlas. A free map and an opening trail weekend invite everyone to wander from TreeNest to TreeNest, from farm to forest, and see wild honeybees living freely in the trees around us.
How it works
1. A TreeNest in your tree. Our tree-mounted nest echoes the hollow trees honeybees choose in nature. Wild honeybees move in on their own and live freely.
2. A gathering to raise it. During spring swarm season, neighbors join us at your site to raise the nest and learn about wild honeybees.
3. A stop on the trail. A sign, the Wild Honeybee Trails map, and an opening trail weekend welcome visitors to come see wild honeybees at your site.
What each host site receives
Provided at no cost, thanks to a grant from Sebastopol West 100
- A TreeNest, installed by our team and built to last for decades
- An interpretive sign for visitors
- A place on the Wild Honeybee Trails map, in print and online
- A collaborative community gathering, led by Apis Arborea
- A docent at your stop on opening trail weekend
- Citizen scientists following your nest on the Wild Honeybee Atlas
Who can host?
Farms, wineries, orchards, local businesses, faith communities, schools, community spaces, and landowners in Sebastopol, Graton, Forestville, Occidental, and Hessel. We choose six sites, at least one in each community, for their habitat, public access, and benefit to the community.
What hosts provide
- A mature, healthy tree suited to a TreeNest
- A welcome for visitors who come to see the TreeNest
- Hosting a community gathering on site during TreeNest installation
- Participate in the opening trail weekend
- Record a simple monthly visitor count in summer 2027
Why wild honeybees?
Most of the world’s honeybees live in the wild, and they are thriving. Here in West County, wild honeybees have lived in our oaks and redwoods for generations. Locally adapted and self-sustaining, they are a novel wildlife, much like the wild mustangs of the American West, and as much a part of this place as the trees they live in. Living at natural densities, they are co-constituents of the broader native pollinator community, sharing the landscape with our native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
The wild is also where honeybees heal. Free to follow their own nature, wild honeybees show remarkable resilience, with roughly 70% surviving each year. Honeybees in managed apiaries across the United States are suffering, with an annual survival rate of only 35 to 42%.
Wild Honeybee Trails invites the whole community to meet these resilient bees, care for them, and learn from them together.
The year ahead
- November 2026 to January 10, 2027: Open call for host sites
- February 2027: Site visits and six hosts announced
- March to April: Installations and gatherings
- June 2027: Opening trail weekend
- Fall 2027: Community report on what we learned
Contact:
Gia Baiocchi: gia@apisarborea.org · 707.503.8312
Interested in hosting?
