What is a Bee Campus?
Bee City Campus designations are given to colleges, universities, and institutions for higher education that are committed to helping pollinators.
Bee City Canada is an organization with the mission of inspiring cities, towns, First Nations, schools, businesses, and other organizations to take action to protect pollinators. They offer programs which provide recognition to communities and organizations whoe are making commitments and taking action to help pollinators. A school or a First Nation that is engaged in this process can apply for a free Bee School or Bee City designation. Similarly, cities, campuses, businesses, and other organizations can apply for designations through the Bee City, Bee City Campus and Bee City Partner programs and must pay annual fees — and continue to promote pollinator health — in order to retain their designations.
All program participants must commit to: creating, maintaining and improving pollinator habitat; educating their communities about the importance of pollinators; and celebrating pollinators during National Pollinator Week, World Bee Day and throughout the year.
Bee City Canada originated in 2015, when the organization’s founder, Shelly Candel, first learned about the work undertaken by Bee City USA while visiting the state of Oregon. Inspired by the success of Bee City USA and the idea that cities can become champions for pollinators, Shelly returned home determined to find a way to engage Canadian cities, towns and other communities in critical conversations regarding pollinator conservation and health. Bee City Canada found immediate success with Toronto City Council voting unanimously to make Toronto the first Bee City in Canada in March of 2016. Since then, over 150 cities, schools, campuses and businesses have received designations, underscoring that Bee City’s message has resonated with Canadians and that communities across the country are ready to take action to protect our pollinators.
Bee City Canada is an organization with the mission of inspiring cities, towns, First Nations, schools, businesses, and other organizations to take action to protect pollinators. They offer programs which provide recognition to communities and organizations whoe are making commitments and taking action to help pollinators. A school or a First Nation that is engaged in this process can apply for a free Bee School or Bee City designation. Similarly, cities, campuses, businesses, and other organizations can apply for designations through the Bee City, Bee City Campus and Bee City Partner programs and must pay annual fees — and continue to promote pollinator health — in order to retain their designations.
All program participants must commit to: creating, maintaining and improving pollinator habitat; educating their communities about the importance of pollinators; and celebrating pollinators during National Pollinator Week, World Bee Day and throughout the year.
Bee City Canada originated in 2015, when the organization’s founder, Shelly Candel, first learned about the work undertaken by Bee City USA while visiting the state of Oregon. Inspired by the success of Bee City USA and the idea that cities can become champions for pollinators, Shelly returned home determined to find a way to engage Canadian cities, towns and other communities in critical conversations regarding pollinator conservation and health. Bee City Canada found immediate success with Toronto City Council voting unanimously to make Toronto the first Bee City in Canada in March of 2016. Since then, over 150 cities, schools, campuses and businesses have received designations, underscoring that Bee City’s message has resonated with Canadians and that communities across the country are ready to take action to protect our pollinators.
Why do we believe that UVic should become a Bee Campus?
The UVSP believes that UVic becoming a Bee Campus would be a commitment to ecological stewardship and conservation on the part of the university, and would also be an effective and meaningful way to engage studentsthrough a multitude of related mediums (i.e., workshops, signage, tabling, restoration and plant nursery projects, pollinator-focused art builds, etc.) and build awareness and community surrounding the creation, maintenance, and improvement of pollinator habitat. Because Bee Campus designations must be annually renewed, our campaign to get UVic designated as a Bee Campus will create a sense of accountability, ensuring that the university and the student body are committed to pollinator conservation in the long run, and that work must be ongoing for the designation to be successfully renewed.
The protection of pollinators — particularly bees — and the conservation and creation of pollinator habitat are critical because of the invaluable and irreplaceable ecological services that bees and other pollinators provide to ecosystems. Pollinators not only aid in the growth of the foods we eat, but they also support ecosystems that increase air quality, stabilize the soil, and aid in the health of other wildlife.
If UVic were to receive a Bee Campus designation, our university would join 16 other post-secondary campuses in Canada, including the University of Calgary, Western University, and McMaster University. UVic would also join Vancouver Island University in being the only two post-secondary institutions in B.C. to receive Bee Campus designations and would assert UVic as a leader in pollinator advocacy.
The Bee Campus Program would also give UVic an opportunity to join a network of other Bee Campuses from across the United States and Canada to collaborate on efforts to protect pollinators. Through the designation and participation in the program, students and staff would be educated on the importance of pollinators, and opportunities to form interdepartmental partnerships between those who directly or indirectly study or teach aspects of biodiversity or pollination would arise. These departments could include biology, environmental studies, horticulture, entomology, and agriculture. Participation in the Bee Campus Program would also help to create beautiful and healthful pollinator habits on campus to increase biodiversity and start conversations with staff and faculty.
The protection of pollinators — particularly bees — and the conservation and creation of pollinator habitat are critical because of the invaluable and irreplaceable ecological services that bees and other pollinators provide to ecosystems. Pollinators not only aid in the growth of the foods we eat, but they also support ecosystems that increase air quality, stabilize the soil, and aid in the health of other wildlife.
If UVic were to receive a Bee Campus designation, our university would join 16 other post-secondary campuses in Canada, including the University of Calgary, Western University, and McMaster University. UVic would also join Vancouver Island University in being the only two post-secondary institutions in B.C. to receive Bee Campus designations and would assert UVic as a leader in pollinator advocacy.
The Bee Campus Program would also give UVic an opportunity to join a network of other Bee Campuses from across the United States and Canada to collaborate on efforts to protect pollinators. Through the designation and participation in the program, students and staff would be educated on the importance of pollinators, and opportunities to form interdepartmental partnerships between those who directly or indirectly study or teach aspects of biodiversity or pollination would arise. These departments could include biology, environmental studies, horticulture, entomology, and agriculture. Participation in the Bee Campus Program would also help to create beautiful and healthful pollinator habits on campus to increase biodiversity and start conversations with staff and faculty.
What's our plan?
Our plan to get UVic to become a Bee Campus is to first garner support for the initiative among UVic students, staff members, Clubs, Course Unions, and Advocacy and Affiliated groups, as well as other on-campus and community stakeholders. The UVSP then plans to take our campaign forward by lobbying Administration at the University of Victoria to collaboratively undergo the Bee Campus application process with the proponents of the Bee Campus Campaign by demonstrating three points. Firstly, that infrastructure to support a Bee Campus designation already exists at UVic. Secondly, that the UVic student body — including those belonging to Affiliated and Advocacy groups, Student Unions, and Clubs — is very much in support of a Bee Campus designation and undertaking the work to support this designation. Thirdly, that taking the steps to achieve this designation affirms UVic’s environmental commitments and will be beneficial to the university and the image it wishes to project. In order to make these points and to meet the criteria for a Bee Campus designation, the UVSP is creating an action plan to protect, celebrate, and educate about pollinators as a part of our Bee Campus Campaign. The UVSP believes it is key to collaborate with students and staff to make UVic a designated Bee Campus. This campaign will unite students from all areas of study and create community around our shared love of pollinators and concern over pollinator health. With the help of other members of our campus, we plan on gaining the approval of UVic Administration and supporting UVic in becoming a Bee Campus!
Campaign Endorsements
Here are some testimonials from on-campus groups who have endorsed the UVSP's UVic Bee Campus Campaign:
University of Victoria Ecological Restoration Club
University of Victoria Ecological Restoration Club
“The UVic Ecological Restoration Club (ERC) is pleased to endorse the UVSP’s UVic Bee Campus Campaign, and to be partnering with the ERC on projects that support the health of pollinators on-campus. The ecological restoration work that the ERC does both on- and off-campus seeks to support biodiversity, including a diversity of pollinators. Improvement in pollinator populations is a great sign of success for the work we do to restore ecosystems. Large pollinator populations are integral to strong functioning Garry Oak Ecosystems, which is the primary area that our on-campus work is focused on. The ERC also started our on-campus Native Plant Nursery this year and the plants grown will help support pollinator habitat and food-systems for declining native pollinator species like bees and butterflies." - Myung Jin (John) Kang, UVic ERC representative
POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
The POLIS Project on Ecological Governance fully endorses the efforts of the UVSP to have UVic designated as a Bee City Campus and establish ongoing support for "pollinator-centric" collaborations through bee habitat stewardship, education and community engagement. As an integral part of the web of biodiversity on which we all depend, bees are inter-species emissaries of life on planet earth. We have a responsibility to ensure their well-being. The Bee City Campus Designation is a meaningful step in this direction. " - Kelly Bannister, POLIS Co-Director
University of Victoria Centre for Global Studies
The Centre for Global Studies (CFGS) is happy to support a campaign to be a ‘bee campus’. CFGS research considers the nexus of the local and global—how local concerns have global effects and how global issues manifest at the local level. Who better than bees to reflect this dynamic relationship? Our pollinators keep the plants on our campus healthy, play a vital role in our local and global food systems, and reflect how we are caring for our planet. By becoming a ‘bee campus’ we have the opportunity to celebrate local sustainability practices as a part of our commitment to the health and well being of our planet." - Jodie Walsh, CFGS Operations Director & Research Coordinator
UVic Campus Community Garden
The University of Victoria Campus Community Garden and Governing Board of Directors is in full support of the Bee campus Campaign initiated by the Sustainability Project. Pollinators are essential to our ability to grow food, and therefore this campaign is essential to the work of the Campus Community Garden. Beyond our statement of support, we intend to take tangible and material steps to protect pollinators on our site so that pollinators can thrive in both the present and the future." - Syd Welsh, CCG Coordinator
UVic Society of Geography Students
The Society of Geography Students, is an inclusive Course Union focused on the interactions of people and places and how they impact one other. Our goal is to foster community within the Geography department, the student body, and the greater UVIC community. Supporting the UVSP’s Bee Pollinator initiative is important to our Course Union as we stand with the improvement and continued restoration efforts of local ecosystems. We believe this project contributes to the benefit of the ecology of the so-called ‘Victoria’ region, otherwise known as the territory of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples including Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ nations. Aligning with our values in sustainability, biological diversity, ecological restoration, placemaking, and stewardship we hope to see this project implemented and the results bountiful." - Darragh Merer, SOGS Co-Chair
UVic Birding Club
Pollinators do not only supply an essential service to humans, they represent an ecological niche that connects and supports all different kinds of life. Hummingbirds are our most obvious birds that benefit from floral abundance, but the presence of native bees, flies, and wasps in landscapes are an important food source for insectivores and the fruit that is borne from a pollinated flower can feed birds deep in the cold of winter. All our lives depend on the abundance and diversity of pollinators. This is why the UVic Birding Club is proud to endorse this campaign." - Hannah Hickli, UVic Birding Club representative
How to support the campaign
Are you a student or staff member at UVic? Do you represent a Club, Course Union, or UVSS Affiliated or Advocacy Group? Whoever you are, and however you're associated with UVic — the UVSP welcomes your support of our Bee Campus Campaign!
If you are a student or staff-person at UVic, contact the UVSP via our email, [email protected], to inquire about how to support or join the campaign as an individual.
If you represent an organization that would like to endorse, or become a collaborator on the campaign, contact the UVSP via our email, [email protected], to add your organization to UVSP's list of Bee Campus supporters and stakeholders which will be presented to UVic Administration.
If you are a student or staff-person at UVic, contact the UVSP via our email, [email protected], to inquire about how to support or join the campaign as an individual.
If you represent an organization that would like to endorse, or become a collaborator on the campaign, contact the UVSP via our email, [email protected], to add your organization to UVSP's list of Bee Campus supporters and stakeholders which will be presented to UVic Administration.
More information
Looking for more reading material? For more information regarding this campaign, check out our campaign info packet.