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The University of Massachusetts Amherst has been named an affiliate of Bee Campus USA, a certification program that recognizes, supports and encourages pollinator conservation on college and university campuses. UMass joins nearly 450 other cities and campuses in the U.S. that are united in improving their landscapes for pollinators in the program, which is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization with offices across the country.

According to Aliza Fassler, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Conservation who helped spearhead the effort, UMass Amherst received the recognition due to its extensive low-mow areas, the excellent pollinator habitat in the Franklin Permaculture Garden and the Governor’s Drive Songbird Pollinator Garden. The campus is also home to the Frank A. Waugh Arboretum, a campuswide collection of trees established in 1944 containing many spring-blooming varieties to support bees that are only active as adults for a few short weeks in the spring.

“The goals of Bee Campus USA align with UMass’s track record of leadership in sustainability and fostering local agriculture,” says Shane Conklin, associate vice chancellor of facilities and campus services. 

The UMass grounds department continues to expand low-mow areas, plant trees that support native bees, reduce pesticide usage and plant new pollinator gardens on campus. In the spring, the UMass Bee Campus Committee held several outreach events to educate the UMass community about the diversity of pollinators on campus, including a campus pollinator tour and a “bee hotel” learning and cleaning event at the Franklin Permaculture Garden.

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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. To help raise awareness about the plight of pollinators, the Bee Campus Committee plans to publish a webpage to disseminate information to the campus and external communities, including UMass’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.

With an estimated 400 species in Massachusetts, bees are among the commonwealth’s most critically important pollinators and also help provide healthy soils, clean air and clean water. However, many bee species are in decline; in Massachusetts, nine species of bee are on the state list of greatest conservation needs, including two species of bumble bee documented on campus, the golden northern bumble bee and the yellow-banded bumble bee. Supporting plant communities on the UMass campus that provide favorable habitats for bees and other insect pollinators and educating the public about the necessity of pollinators is of increasing importance.