Bee Campus USA
UNT’s commitment to provide habitat for pollinators and education about their importance to healthy ecosystems has earned UNT the honor of being named the 1st Bee Campus USA in Texas and the 12th in the nation!
Learn what the buzz is all about HERE.
By being a Bee Campus USA, UNT is committed to:
- Developing a campus habitat plan
- Hosting events, workshops, or presentations
- Sponsoring service-learning projects
- Offering pollinator-focused curriculum or continuing education
- Educating campus and the broader community
Join UNT in “beeing” a safe environment for our bee population!
Currently, UNT hosts many opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to get involved with maintaining a bee friendly environment. Many of which, are student ideas that blossomed into ongoing campus projects to make UNT an even more environmentally friendly campus not just for humans, but also for our pollinators as well.
Pollinative Prairie: The prairie will serve as a pollinator habitat and feature native grasses, wildflowers, and habitat spaces to protect, preserve, and promote native pollinator populations. Students have contributed approximately 500 service hours thus far in their partnership with the UNT Ecology Department solarizing Bermuda grass and planting native flowers and grasses for the fall.
Community Garden: The Community Garden hosts lessons twice per month, which provides the perfect opportunity for UNT to provide outreach and education about the importance of pollinators. You may even be able to see some of our pollinators in action!
UNT Bee Campus USA Committee Accomplishments
- Adopted an Integrated Pest Management Plan to manage pests in the best possible way for pollinator protection - VIEW HERE
- Adopted a Preferred Native Plant List to help guide pollinator friendly planting on campus - VIEW HERE
- Over 740 service learning hours by students in support of pollinators!
- Over 2 acres of Discovery Park's Pollinative Prairie has been seeded with native flowers and grasses... On our way to 4 acres!
- Native landscaping has been added at the UNT Community Garden!
- Seed Ball event at EarthFest 2017 added pollinator friendly plants to the low maintenance area by Willis Library!
- Look for signage on campus and more service learning to come in 2018!
How does “beeing” a Bee Campus USA benefit UNT?
- Helps protect bees and other pollinators that contribute to a healthy native ecosystem
- Furthers our commitment to being a sustainable campus
- Being aware to the contribution around us
- Holds us to a higher standard of environmental accountability
- Provides learning opportunities for student, faculty, and staff to see firsthand the impact that they are having on their environment
