Bee Campus USA - University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkeley is now an affiliate of Bee Campus USA, an initiative of the Xerces Society that aims to foster ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role pollinators play in our communities and how each of us can take action to create healthy habitat. In light of UC Berkeley's longstanding history of leadership in the field of pollinators and pollination, we are proud to be the 5th California campus and the 80th campus in the nation to be certified.
Bee Campus - Berkeley
To move this important effort forward on campus, a committee of faculty, staff and students has been formed, see the current committee members here. Bee campus is planning the rehabilitation of two campus gardens and working to add more pollinator friendly places to the landscape. If you would like to get involved and help restore pollinator gardens or opportunities to educate, please click here
RECENT NEWS + UPDATES
- Special thanks to The Green Initiative Fund for awarding a $2,800 campus grant https://tgif.berkeley.edu/overview/grant-cycles/mini-grant-2019/bee-campus-usa/
- Currently working on several park and school gardens in the City of Berkeley with a $15,000 grant from the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund to aid our work to add native plant gardens, provide workshops, and engage resident volunteers.
- Take our Decal course this Fall 2021: "Save the Bees: Pollinator Conservation through Environmental Activism" (See decal website here)
- -We plan to partner with several other student groups on campus to help aid this effort including Herbicide-Free Cal, Cal Sustainability, and SERC.
- We are teaching bee and environmental awareness at local schools including Malcolm X Elementary, Berkeley Independent School, and Berkwood Hedge.
- Our team helped adopt several park gardens at San Pablo Park, Strawberry Creek Park and George Florence.
- Working to pass a bee-friendly resolution in the East Bay Regional Parks
Berkwood Hedge Elementary School Presentation in Spring 2020
RESOURCES + LEARN MORE
- UC Berkeley Integrated Pest Management Plan
- UC Berkeley Essig Museum of Entomology
- UC Berkeley Creeks
- UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab: Help a Bee
- Daily Cal feature article
- Hebicide Free Cal
- Xerces Society: Planting and Habitat Resources
Save the Bees
Our generation is experiencing a time of rapid change. We rely upon our natural environment to produce the most fundamental ingredients of life, from the oxygen we breath to the resources that we consume or use daily. Almost seventy percent of the food we eat, including the world’s major staple crops in fruit and vegetables require the pollination of bees, birds, flies, or other insects to properly develop into consumable goods. In this time we recognize that human activity has driven a number of changes that harm the organisms that we depend heavily upon for our own survival and security of a food supply. Steps must be taken to ensure the protection of honey bees, native bees and the multitude of other pollinators that exist. This will not only protect them in our local environment but add to the already burgeoning movement taking place worldwide to promote pollinator conservation. California is a leading producer of the world’s staple crops, such as almonds and tomatoes, which demand the presence of bees for proper fruiting. It is in our state’s interest to protect bees and the industries surrounding them. Resolutions at the local level will help protect bees and encourage statewide change, which is why UC Berkeley, that has long been at the forefront of diverse environmental and social causes, has become the 80th certified Bee Campus. View the list of current bee campuses here.
Thanks to CALPIRG for helping to bring this save the bees opportunity to campus.
Visit our Instagram account: @savethebees_initiative