Learn About Bee City USA
Buck moth caterpillar. Photo: Nancy Adamson
Bee City USA encourages city leaders to celebrate and raise awareness of the contribution bees and other pollinators make to our world.
Bee City USA Communities
Unless you live in Asheville, North Carolina, your community is not yet a Bee City USA designee.
Hoping that Asheville would be the first city to launch a movement across the nation, members of the Buncombe County Chapter of the NC State Beekeepers Association established Bee City USA as a program of the Center for Honeybee Research, a non-profit organization based in Asheville.
On June 26, 2012, Asheville’s City Council voted unanimously to become the inaugural Bee City USA, with both the honor and the responsibility the designation entails.
We encourage city leaders across the nation to explore joining the Bee City USA movement by completing the application process. As cities and towns across America become attuned to the universe of creatures that make the planet bloom, we will become more conscientious about what we plant and how we maintain our green spaces. There is much we can teach one another--both city to city and species to species.
What is Bee City USA?
Being a Bee City USA designee is both an honor and a responsibility. Launched in 2012, the Bee City USA program endorses a set of standards, defined in a resolution, for creating sustainable habitats for pollinators, which are vital to feeding the planet. Cities and towns across America are invited to adopt these standards and become a Bee City USA designee.
In 2006 when honey bee colonies started disappearing, later dubbed “Colony Collapse Disorder,” beekeepers and non-beekeepers alike became very concerned. After all, one in every three bites of food we eat is courtesy of insect pollination. Equally important, 87% of flowering plants and trees rely on pollinators for the survival of their species. While less is known about native bees and other pollinators, we do know that entire species are disappearing at alarming rates as they battle most of the same enemies as honey bees--loss of habitat essential for food and shelter, inappropriate pesticide use, diseases, and parasites.
Some of Bee City USA's Founders
Photo: Leah Shapiro, The Laurel of Asheville
Many people both inside and outside of the Buncombe County Chapter of the North Carolina State Beekeeping Association are turning the concept of Bee City USA into reality. Here are a few who were able to gather for a photograph on May 1, 2013.
From left to right on top row: Janet Peterson, Ted Brown, Connie Brown, Carl Chesick, Larry Sanders, and Richard Stiles. From left to right on bottom row: Sister J SpiritVoice, Cindy Donohoo, Graham McCormick, Phyllis Stiles, and Jean-Jacques Maury. Conspicuously missing are Joan Chesick, Diane Almond, and Dawn Nelson, who unfortunately were not able to make the photo shoot.
From left to right on top row: Janet Peterson, Ted Brown, Connie Brown, Carl Chesick, Larry Sanders, and Richard Stiles. From left to right on bottom row: Sister J SpiritVoice, Cindy Donohoo, Graham McCormick, Phyllis Stiles, and Jean-Jacques Maury. Conspicuously missing are Joan Chesick, Diane Almond, and Dawn Nelson, who unfortunately were not able to make the photo shoot.
