A UC Davis Crowdfund project, "Nature Is for Everyone: Field Trip Support for Schools," seeks $3000 to finance classroom field trips to the UC Davis Bee Haven.  

"Our CrowdFund will provide funding to three Title I schools or affiliated youth groups that will cover the guided tour fee and transportation costs for up to 50 people (students, teachers, parents) to participate in a 90-minute field trip at the Bee Haven on the UC Davis campus," announced Christine Casey, academic program management officer for the UC Davis Bee Haven, an educational bee demonstration garden maintained and operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

"We will fund up to $1000 per school," she writes on the Crowdfund website. "Our unique outdoor learning adventure has been experienced by nearly 50,000 visitors since 2013." 

"Participants will see and learn about the 200 plant and 80 bee species that occur at the Haven. They will safely catch and observe bees and participate in a grade-appropriate bee monitoring exercise that will introduce them to scientific research and create a memorable learning adventure about bees, plants, science, and the natural world. We'll also provide books for each school's library that can be used to extend program impact." View Casey's YouTube video.

Casey serves as the Crowdfund leader. Assisting her are Haven volunteers Connie Alexich, Diane Kelly, and Barbara Heinsch.

The bee garden, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, is open daily from dawn to dusk except for Tuesdays (open at 10 a.m.) "so we can maintain physical distance during garden maintenance," Casey says.

The UC Davis Bee Haven was installed in the fall of 2009 during the interim department-chair term of Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Art by the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion, co-directed and co-founded by Diane Ullman, professor and former chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Donna Billick of Davis, graces the garden. Billick, a self-described "rock artist, created the six-foot-long, 200-pound ceramic mosaic sculpture of a worker bee, "Miss Bee Haven," in 2010. 

All contributions to support the fundraising project are welcome and appreciated. Access the CrowdFund site at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/29773. As of 11 a.m. today (Feb. 17), donations amounted to $575. The project ends at 12:59 p.m., Feb. 28.