Courtesy photo.
FLAGSTAFF — Coconino Community College has joined the ranks of becoming an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program. The program helps gather the strengths of educational campuses like CCC for the benefit of pollinators, and the college joins other cities and campuses across the country to improve their landscapes for pollinators.
“CCC’s students, faculty and staff are champions for sustainable environmental practices,” said Dr. Christal Albrecht, Interim President. “Becoming a Bee Campus USA affiliate is a natural fit for our college located in beautiful northern Arizona.”
“I am so excited that CCC has committed to becoming an active affiliate of Bee Campus USA,” said Janan Scott, CCC Purchasing Specialist Senior and Master Gardener. “I really feel like it’s a harmonic convergence. Our school garden at the Lone Tree campus is thriving with native pollinator-friendly plants. We’re already a pesticide-free school, our faculty is excited to incorporate pollinator-focused projects into their curriculum, we have the full support of our Facilities department, and our Community Education program is looking forward to expanding offerings to include pollinator education and workshops.”
Scott added that it takes cooperation collegewide to make a program like Bee Campus USA a success and that pollinator conservation is an excellent common goal for the whole college to work toward.
Melinda McKinney, biology faculty at CCC, said, “Many bee species are keystone species. These species help hold the entire ecosystem together. Our college is demonstrating a commitment to serving our larger community by supporting these amazing animals.”
Giovanna Macry, CCC Instructional Technology Advisor, said, “This is a tremendous educational opportunity for all parts of CCC and the wider community. I, for one, hope to bring what I learn at CCC home as I cultivate my own outdoor space with a concerted effort to support local pollinators.”
She added that her daughter heard about the group and said she wanted to join, too.
“We both understand the value pollinators have in our outdoor beauty and for the growth of our food, so we support learning about and developing aligned gardening work to help our pollinators thrive at CCC and at home,” Macry said.
Rusty Tweed, CCC’s Community Education Coordinator, said, “Receiving this certification is a great first step. The next step is to involve and educate our community through outreach. This provides a great opportunity to develop Community Education programs that build upon many years of effort to improve our campus and to demonstrate how to do it in a way that considers the natural surroundings.”
Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA are initiatives of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Ore., with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities and campuses to sustain pollinators by giving them healthy habitats, rich in a variety of native plants free of pesticides. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and more are responsible for the reproduction of nearly 90 percent of the world’s flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food humans consume.
“The program aspires to make people more PC – pollinator conscious, that is,” said Scott Hoffman Black, executive director for Xerces Society. “If lots of individuals and communities begin planting native, pesticide-free flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, it will help to sustain many, many species of pollinators.
For more information about Bee Campus USA, visit www.beecityusa.org. For more information about the Xerces Society, visit xerces.org.