We kick off our 2022-2023 Speaker Series on September 8th with California native bee hunter, photographer, and expert, Krystle Hickman.  Krystle is a TEDx Speaker, Artist, Community Scientist, and Photographer based in Los Angeles, California. Through artful photography, Krystle strives to increase awareness of the decline in native bee species as well as highlight their biodiverse ecosystems. Her photography has been featured in The LA Times, children’s books, and scientific journals.

Krystle works with gardens like the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Arlington Garden, regularly photographing and documenting their native habitats. She also collects data on rare bee species in the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree, Anza-Borrego, the Santa Monica Mountains, yards with native gardens, and more.

She was awarded a National Geographic Explorer grant in 2023 to create a book that features original photographs and documents rare native bees throughout California. The book will describe the incredible natural histories of these bees and how humans have impacted their life cycles: including what these bees experience after fire and during fire abatement, their competition with invasive honey bees for food resources, how climate change is impacting them, and more.

Questions? We’d love to hear from you!