Utah State University Becomes an Affiliate of Bee Campus USA

Utah State University has become an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program, designed to marshal the strengths of educational campuses for the benefit of pollinators. Utah State University joins many other cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators.

According to Marci Stevens, a Bee Campus USA committee member who coordinated this certification, says there is more to come: “Utah State University has worked with landscape area coordinators, graduate students and professors to protect existing native bee populations. Plans are in place to increase native plantings and pollinator habitats in the near future.”

The Landscape Operations and Maintenance (LOAM) Department takes pride in Utah State University’s commitment to minimizing hazards to pollinators by reducing neonicotinoid pesticides, glyphosate herbicide or other potentially dangerous pesticides.

To raise awareness about the plight of pollinators, Utah State University plans to publish a webpage on its sustainability site to disseminate information to the campus and external communities including Utah State University’s Integrated Pest Management Plan, a list of native plants incorporated into the campus landscape including their bloom time and habitat needs, links to student and faculty research into pollinator issues, and information about upcoming events.

Caitlin McLennan, sustainability program manager at Utah State University, applauds this effort spearheaded by the Logan campus LOAM Department.

“The Bee Campus USA initiative is a great way to communicate Utah State’s efforts to protect pollinators,” she says, “highlighting the great environmental stewardship efforts of our LOAM team, while making campus a beautiful place to work and go to school.”

Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA are initiatives of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities and campuses to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants and free of pesticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90% of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume.

“The program aspires to make people more PC — pollinator conscious, that is,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces’ executive director. “If lots of individuals and communities begin planting native, pesticide-free flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, it will help to sustain many, many species of pollinators.”

According to Bee Campus USA Coordinator Laura Rost, “Each campus must renew their affiliation each year and report on accomplishments from the previous year. Other institutions of higher education are invited to explore completing the application process outlined at beecityusa.org.”

For more information about Utah State University’s Bee Campus USA program, contact Marci Stevens at marci.stevens@usu.edu.