Bee City USA® has renewed Tarrant County College Southeast Campus’s Bee Campus USA certification for 2020 following a rigorous renewal application process. The Bee Campus USA Sustainability Committee is the facilitating committee for TCC Southeast Campus that documents its engagement in enhancing pollinator habitats both on and off-campus.
Habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change have led to declining pollinator populations around the world. Bee Campus USA, an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, brings campus communities together to sustain pollinators by creating and enhancing habitat, reducing pesticide use and spreading awareness. Pollinators including bees, butterflies, moths, bats and hummingbirds are responsible for the reproduction of 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants and more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species.
“I commend our Bee Campus USA Sustainability Committee for the impressive pollinator conservation work we completed last year,” said TCC Southeast President William Coppola. “Our Southeast community understood the importance of sustaining pollinators when we first applied to become a Bee Campus USA affiliate in 2018.”
Although the recognition required collaboration throughout the campus, leadership was key to the effort’s success. “We could not have accomplished the initiatives to support more than 60,000 bees without the assistance of Marc Villanueva and our entire Facilities Department. They helped by providing volunteers and supplies, promoting and hosting events to enhance our bee habitat,” said Michael Cinatl, chair of the committee.
Plans will be developed for the Bee Campus USA Sustainability Committee to continue creating new opportunities to raise awareness of the vital role pollinators play in supporting our planet’s ecosystems and food systems, Cinatl said.
More information about the nationwide work of Bee City USA visit www.beecityusa.org.