Located just behind Alumni Memorial Hall, near the Indigenous Outdoor Classroom, the Adam Chiaravalle Native Bee Nesting Garden creates a haven for many species of solitary, ground-nesting bees, who find their ideal homes in varying terrains such as sand, shrubs and wood. 

Adam Chiaravalle, a Political Science and Sustainability graduate who received the President’s Award of Excellence in Student Leadership, was incredibly involved in many sustainability and food-justice initiatives.  

Adam worked with Humble Bee to bring honey bees to campus. Over time, the honey bees began to compete with native species, and McMaster made the switch to preserving native bees and ground nesters with this garden, who are crucial pollinators to our ecosystems. Adam passed away in November of 2020, before the garden was ever finished, but his contributions will forever be remembered with this garden, named in his memory.  

This garden is part of the Native Bees at McMaster project, which was initiated by students in SUSTAIN courses in 2019. Over the course of the summer of 2023, efforts from SUSTAIN students, the Grounds department, the McMaster greenhouse and Nature at McMaster all went into making this garden a reality.  

In the garden, you may find miner bees and mason bees nesting in the ground, brown belted bumble bees on top of the soil or enjoying the milkweed and goldenrod, and leafcutting bees in crevices of the old wooden log.