Pitt welcomes pollinators to Bee Campus
The University of Pittsburgh recently became a member of the Bee Campus USA Network, an honor that recognizes its efforts to attract pollinators to campus as part of a larger commitment to sustainable practices.
The certification, which must be renewed with updates annually, is awarded by the nonprofit Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
Pitt is the latest of 103 Bee Campus USA affiliates and one of five in Pennsylvania. The other four are Chatham, Penn State and Susquehanna universities and Dickinson College.
The western honeybee is the species most cited as endangered because of colony collapse, but solitary bee species, natives to America, are even more endangered because their habitats are not managed by beekeepers and they are more transitory. They are also more valuable to the food supply because, without a queen to protect, they spend almost all of their time pollinating.
Pitt’s plan is designed for all pollinators, said Aurora Sharrard, director of sustainability. They include birds, insects, butterflies and bees.
Pitt has four pollinator gardens and one or two more in the works, she said. Students and staff installed seven houses for solitary bees last summer, four of them in pollinator gardens.
“We also have edible and rain gardens that are part of the pollinator network,” she said.
Conservation efforts include creating native plant habitats, providing nesting sites and reducing the use of pesticides. A Pollinator Habitat Advisory Committee, made up of students, faculty and staff, will measure progress and make recommendations, Ms. Sharrard said.
Andy Moran, Pitt’s senior manager of grounds, heads the committee. He said that as more people grow aware of the threats to pollinators, more pollinator gardens are springing up.
“More people realize that the bee population is in decline and that a pollinator garden is something you can do to help them recover,” he said. “We’re doing it on a larger scale, but we have thousands of neighbors, so those pollinators are
flying through their properties too, stopping at their gardens.”
He said students in the program picked the plants and that they and the groundskeepers did the plantings.
“We monitor them like any landscape bed, pruning, deadheading and keeping the weeds out,” he said. “When the plants are in bloom, you occasionally see people take close-up photos of the butterflies and bees.”
Educational outreach to the greater Pitt community will include informational signage, online education and service learning opportunities, all crucial to a greater understanding of the value of pollinators.
“A lot of people are still scared of bees, and some people have allergies. But most people don’t understand what exactly pollinators do,” Ms. Sharrard said.
The world’s food supply depends on them. They transfer pollen from the anthers of plants to the stigma of the same species, collecting nectar for themselves and helping plants produce the seeds they need to reproduce.
Brandon Brewster, a rising junior majoring in environmental sciences and an intern last semester in facilities management, oversaw Pitt’s application to its completion.
“The thing that excites me most about the Bee Campus USA designation is that it adds to the longstanding support for sustainable efforts on campus,” he said.
“It will foster the awareness and backing for future sustainable projects. Not only is this good news for the native pollinator species in and around our campus, but it means that every day we are working to make the university a healthier and more sustainable place to learn and thrive.”