Over the past few decades, the decline in bee populations worldwide from human activity and climate change has led to efforts to mitigate the threat. West Vancouver (B.C.) Memorial Library is making a beeline toward innovation with its unique Mason Bee House Lending Program. Since 2022, patrons have been able to support the health of the local ecosystem by borrowing colonies to care for at home.
Most people would be fired for bringing a box of bees to work. But not coauthor Taren Urquhart, West Vancouver (B.C.) Memorial Library’s (WVML) arts and special events programmer and resident insect enthusiast.
Urquhart has been caring for bees in her backyard for more than 25 years and maintains a colony of Blue Orchard mason bees, which are efficient pollinators. In 2016, library administrators approved her request to put a bee hotel on a balcony outside the youth services department. The hotel, which contained bees from her own colony, would serve two purposes: It would give kids the opportunity to learn about bees up close and help support the local ecosystem.
Nine years and thousands of bees later, what began as an idea for a small educational installation has grown into a thriving program that improves both local biodiversity and patrons’ relationships with one another and the library. In 2022, WVML introduced the Mason Bee House Lending Program, which allows patrons to experience the wonders of beekeeping and support pollination efforts at home, for free.
Unlike honeybees, native Pacific Northwest mason bees are stingless and docile—perfect for curious kids and beekeeping newbies. They don’t need a lot of room, either. In the wild, they nest in holes made by woodpeckers and other insects spread out in trees and stumps, or they crawl into rock crevasses.
Mason bee bungalows look like birdhouses packed with a dozen narrow tubes, one mother bee per tube, that mimic natural nesting holes.
Each February, participants in WVML’s program take home and monitor one of these bungalows for a full year, the average lifecycle of a mason bee. Each one contains 12 nesting tubes and 15 dormant cocoons (essentially baby bees) from among the 3,000 produced annually at the library. Before taking them home, all participants attend a 90-minute training session that goes over essential care, including how to monitor bees, maintain their housing, and help them flourish during the pollinating season, which runs from late March through early June. The session also explains the impact of pollinators on the local ecosystem, including on the food supply.
Native Pacific Northwest mason bees are stingless and docile—perfect for curious kids and beekeeping newbies.
Throughout the year, participants receive a monthly newsletter with care tips and seasonal reminders. After 12 months, everyone returns their bee house to the library. Participants can keep their bungalows’ new cocoons for their own backyard colony or return them for the next group.
By the end of the 2025 season, the library will have supported more than 100 budding beekeepers. We’ve heard from gardeners who have harvested more apples, plums, and pears every fall since adding a bee hotel to their gardens. The program also fosters lifelong, intergenerational learning. We often see grandparents start the program and return the following year with their children and grandchildren.
The bee houses are more than just a feel-good project. As native pollinators face habitat loss, we are reminded that they represent the power of small actions. The power of community members working together allows us to responsibly care for nature and contribute to a healthier, more sustainable world.
