Bee City USA is not a city, but instead, its hundreds of communities and college campuses across the country that are mobilized to establish pollinator habitats in order to reverse their declines. Designated sites within these communities are organized under the umbrellas of Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA. Their mission is to sustain pollinators by increasing the abundance of native plants, providing nest sites, and reducing the use of pesticides. These project locations, in more than 450 sites across 48 states, are focused on providing sustainable habitat for the more than 3,600 species of native bees in the United States.

Bee City USA started as an independent nonprofit by a woman named Phyllis Stiles in 2012 in her hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. That became the first Bee City affiliate. In 2015 the effort expanded to colleges and universities with the creation of Bee Campus USA. As these programs grew in popularity, Stiles asked the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to manage the program so the efforts could continue to expand. And, they have.

In a recent interview with Laura Rost, National Coordinator, Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA, KINUTE discusses the power of community mobilization and its direct impact on saving the thousands of species of pollinators and their habitats.

Bee City USA rallies community support at the Neches River Festival Parade in Beaumont, Texas. (Photo credit: Bee City USA, Beaumont, TX)

Bee City USA is a collection of cities. Can you talk about how the organization works on a grass-roots level and why this network approach is effective?

We provide the framework and basic requirements—create pollinator habitat, reduce pesticide use, and engage in outreach (but more on those below)—and offer information and guidance, but how they fulfill those requirements is up to our affiliates—they get to make their projects their own. Each Bee City creates fun, effective projects that reflect their community’s unique strengths and interests. I’d say there is room for both a grassroots and grass tops approach with Bee City. Their committees have community members from all walks of life, ranging from mayors to high school scouts. They form their own support network which can include local experts, their neighboring Bee City and Campus communities, and enthusiastic community members. This approach allows communities to think creatively about how they protect pollinators and make progress on multiple fronts.

Membership of Bee City or Bee Campus is driven by community interest. We don’t actively recruit new affiliates. They all come to us because of a desire to help pollinators—although we know some affiliates are encouraging their neighboring communities to join! This means the community is already engaged in the efforts. We catalyze their enthusiasm and provide ways for them to be successful.

Bee Campus USA University of Vermont New pollinator garden. (Photo credit: Mark Starrett)

 The organization comprises Bee Cities and Bee Campuses. What’s the difference between them and what is each responsible for?

The commitments of both Bee City and Bee Campus are similar, both form a committee, create or enhance pollinator habitat each year, reduce pesticide use through an integrated pest management plan (IPM), and engage in at least one pollinator conservation outreach event each year. Bee Cities need to pass a one-time “Bee City resolution” through their council, and Bee Campuses get permission from their college or university’s president or chancellor. Additionally, Bee Campuses also need to have courses or continuing education, and service learning projects that incorporate pollinator conservation. 

We ask that all affiliates have a recommended list of native plants, a native plant vendor list, signage, and a web presence so the public knows what their community is doing and how they can get involved. Finally, all affiliates report on their work annually, and pay an annual fee between $100 and $500, based on population or enrollment. If the fee is a barrier to participation, it can be waived.

We often see clusters of Bee Cities, or Bee Campuses within a Bee Cities, and we love to see them collaborate! We encourage them to serve on each other’s committees and even host events together.

Male longhorned bee on Rudbeckia. (Photo credit: Jennifer Hopwood)

Bee City USA focuses on protecting habitats beyond just those for the honeybee. Why is it important to establish habitats for a diversity of bees & native pollinators and how are you doing that? 

The focus of Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA is on supporting our native bees. Although the honey bee may be the first bee many people picture when thinking about pollinators, they were introduced from Europe, and are not adapted to pollinate North American flowers. The honey bee is really important for crop pollination, but away from farm fields, it’s our more than 3,600 species of native bees that are needed—not to forget that butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, wasps, hummingbirds, and other animals also contribute to pollination. The honey bee is not (and cannot be) a replacement for native pollinators if we want to have a healthy environment.

Habitat for bees needs to support their entire life cycle: nectar to fuel adults, nectar and pollen to be collected to feed their offspring, and a place where they can nest, and this should be safe from insecticides. The majority of native bees are solitary, with one female making her own nest, which may be inside a hollow twig or by digging a narrow tunnel in the ground. This is very different from the huge social hive of honey bees. If you only think about honey bees, you’ll be missing the key components for native bees. Providing flower-rich, safe habitat for native bees will also help honey bees.

Eighty-five percent of all flowering plants and 67% of agricultural crops depend on a pollinating animal. Unfortunately, up to 40% of pollinator species on earth are at risk of extinction in the coming years as a result of a variety of environmental stressors including habitat loss, exposure to pesticides, diseases and pathogens, and climate change.

National Coordinator of Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA Laura Rost in the field. (Photo credit: Laura Rost)

Your tagline is Connecting Communities and Pollinators, what do you mean by that?

We know what pollinators need to survive, but without communities taking action together, we cannot implement the changes we need to help pollinators thrive. If communities are empowered to feel like stewards of their community land—private and public—they collectively have the power to make huge improvements to pollinator health. Many of our affiliates say that their strength is in the community that has grown up around their Bee City or Bee Campus efforts.

Bee City USA efforts in Wilsonville, Oregon. (Photo credit: Tommy Reeder)

What are some specific initiatives that the organization is working on?

We are always excited to introduce new tools and online “promo kits” to help our affiliates implement and advocate for pollinators. This fall, we are expanding our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Toolkit to include a template IPM plan and a great list of non-chemical pest control methods. I imagine more people think reducing pesticide use sounds boring, but it’s not! The alternatives to pesticides can be really fun: you can rent goats to eat kudzu, cook weeds using a steam-weeder, organize weekly weed-pulls at your local park. I think it will be really helpful.

A pollinator garden in Detroit, Michigan (Photo credit: Laura Rost - Xerces Society)

What are some of the not-so-obvious issues that Bee City USA tackles that trickle down to native plant concerns?

One chronically overlooked aspect of pollinator conservation is ensuring the plants you purchase are not contaminated with pesticides. Lucky for us, the Xerces Society has a top-notch team working on pesticide reduction and has developed resources, including a helpful handout, Buying Bee-Safe Plants, to help people avoid dangerous pesticides when purchasing pollinator plants, as well partnering with native plant nurseries to develop new growing protocols. 

Hawthorn Woods Illinois Memorial Garden. (Photo credit: Village of Hawthorn Woods, IL)

What are some of the flagship projects in cities within the Bee City USA network?

We just published our annual report and over 270 affiliates’ annual reports and I am always humbled by the thoughtful, engaging, and effective pollinator conservation projects they undertake. They do pollinator garden tours, create pollinator festivals, host lectures featuring bee researchers. And I love seeing all the volunteer weed-pulls in parks and along roadsides. It’s a great way to reduce pesticide use and free up some time for cities’ hardworking landscape staff. They seem to have a great time, too!

Cosmos with sleeping sweat bee & longhorn bee. (Photo credit: Laura Rost)

How does sustaining bee populations go hand in hand with native plant conservation?

Not all pollinators can feed on all types of plants that require pollination. The other side of that is that some plants require a particular species of insect to successfully pollinate them. Native pollinators and native plants co-adapted or co-evolved, so we need to protect the whole diversity of native pollinating species to ensure the survival of native plants. Some bee species are very small and only travel short distances, others can go a few miles. So we need stepping stones, or better yet, corridors of native habitat to allow them to be healthy and genetically diverse.

It’s also worth mentioning the importance of native plants for supporting native biodiversity. It might seem that any flower will help a bee, but research shows us that a garden growing native plants will support a far far greater diversity of species than one growing non-native plants. 

Moorestown, New Jersey Swedes Run Pollinator Site. (Photo credit: David Hess)

What are some of the key challenges you are facing right now in this effort?

Thankfully, I do not often encounter a lack of interest or concern about pollinator declines. People seem to understand we need to “save the bees,” but time and money are real challenges for getting people to take action. Common challenges our affiliates face are volunteer and staff turnover, limited budgets, and navigating habitat maintenance.

One passionate advocate may start a great project, but it is important to create a plan to pass the torch on those great ideas to new participants—and make sure someone knows what’s a native plant versus a weed in that beautiful pollinator garden!

All these challenges are why we offer a lot of flexibility in who participates in each community, what kind of pollinator habitat they create, and what sort of outreach work they do. Some affiliates have zero budget and rely nearly exclusively on volunteers, others have thousands of dollars and full-time staff that focus on pollinator conservation. That’s also why our annual requirements are relatively simple: one habitat project, which could be a single flower border; one outreach activity, which may be a morning table in the city library; and pesticide reduction, which is ongoing. Transforming our landscapes isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s a continuous piecemeal effort!

We are a big tent: we want to make sure any community that wants to help has a path forward to being more pollinator friendly.

Mining bee on oceanspray. (Photo credit: Laura Rost)

How can people get involved? What action can they take?

The great news is that with pollinator conservation, everyone can help. There are many little actions that can add up to big changes! You can put a few native plants on your balcony, stop spraying pesticides around your yard, share your favorite native flower seeds with friends, ask local elected officials to advocate for pollinator health, or talk to your nursery about buying bee-safe plants.

You can take the Xerces Society Bring Back the Pollinators Pledge, or check out our affiliate map and consider volunteering for your local Bee City or Bee Campus affiliate.