ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source)- In light of the country’s dying bee population, some students at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability came forward to help save Michigan’s decreasing pollinator population numbers, garnering the title “Bee-Friendly Campus” from Bee Campus USA. 

The school was awarded the title from the initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which has recognized 161 universities and colleges for their sustainable pollinator conservation practices across the United States to date.  

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UM’s School for Environment and Sustainability, or SEAS, Bee Team provided a masters project in Spring 2021 which featured a comprehensive pollinator planning and outreach plan, and featured plans for a new pollinator habitat on campus.  The pollinator habitat was 1,700 square feet of garden and included 17 native plant species under the pedestrian bridge. 

Dr. Sheila Schueller, is the Project Advisor for the SEAS Bees team which helped gain the title for the UM and spoke on WEMU 89.1 regarding the project and bees importance in Michigan. 

According to Schueller, Michigan has over 400 species of bees, but that number is declining.  She attributed that partially to human encroachment on habitat, but also on the use of pesticides. 

“And I think you can pretty directly know that pesticides have a major impact on pollinators because they’re meant to target pests that are eating the plants, but they’re not distinct to any insect,” Dr. Schueller said on the air, “And so, they will also take out all sorts of pollinators that are nesting or traveling through that area. And then, in terms of loss of habitat, that is also a major impact. Though the bright side of that, as what we’ve shown, is even small recreation of habitat, can bring those bees back. That is, that you can have suitable habitat for many bee and pollinator species with little gardens in backyards.” 

The SEAS Project Advisor also suggested that there was evidence to support that the consequences of fewer bees was more than just ecological impacts, but also a public health issue. 

“And, in fact, they’ve found that pollinator declines in certain places where the diet shifts because of those pollinator declines that leads to malnutrition,” Schueller said on the radio, “So, you can think of not having certain foods available. And there are many staple crop plants that depend on pollinators. And, again, when we say pollinators, it is in the broadest sense and not just honeybees.”

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The Ann Arbor Campus earned its certification roughly two years after the Dearborn campus earned its certification as a Bee Campus USA affiliate in 2019.  Washtenaw Community College earned the certification in 2022. Michigan State University achieved the certification in early December of 2022, just ahead of UM. However, the earliest Michigan school to earn the title was Delta College in 2018 according to Bee City USA research. 

UM has a number of sustainability goals that were established in 2011. According to data from the university, it has already accomplished a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 25%, and reduction of chemical applications to campus landscapes by 40%.