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Bee Campus USA - Washtenaw Community College

Bee Campus USA fosters ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role pollinators play in our communities and what each of us can do to provide them with healthy habitat.

WCC Native Bee Campus Walk with Stefanie Steele, Xerces Society  

WCC Native Bee Campus Walk with Stefanie Steele, Xerces Society  

Monday, September 16, 2024  from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Start of tour:  The event meets under the arch between the GM and LA buildings

Stefanie will focus especially on bee identification on campus with a guide of the most common Michigan bees. The tour will include the new pollinator garden as well as the Food Forest, Nature Trail, and the Hoop House. Wear walking shoes and a hat as the tour meets under the GM arch for a fun and educational walk on our blooming campus.   Sponsored by the WCC Bee Campus USA Committee, the Center for Sustainability and Resilience (CSR), and the Bailey Library. Questions: Sandy at mccarthy@wccnet.edu

Registration:  There is no registration required, simply show up at 1 p.m. under the arch between GM and LA Buildings. WCC employees can sign up in Kalpa.

Handouts with common bees in Michigan from MSU Extension Center will be provided with the tour as well as native/pollinator flowers on WCC campus.

The alternate date should the weather not cooperate is Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 1 p.m. under the GM arch.

Building the Motor City Bee Highway

Building the Motor City Bee Highway

Urban farming and beekeeping have taken root in Detroit, not just as a hobby or a sideline but as part of an integrated plan for the city’s revitalization. Brian Peterson-Roest, founder of Bees in the D will discuss the sustainable change happening in Detroit with the support of local businesses and engaged community leaders and how together they are creating the Motor City Bee Highway. 

Wednesday, April 3, 2024 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. online 

Earth Week 2024 Event. Sponsored by the WCC Bee Campus USA Committee and the Bailey Library. Questions: Sandy at mccarthy@wccnet.edu

Registration:  There is no registration required, simply join us online. WCC employees can sign up in Kalpa.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://wccnet-edu.zoom.us/j/84165299128?pwd=OG1vMjZxcXMvb1FUTHl6Z05JZXQxdz09

Meeting ID: 841 6529 9128
Passcode: 257173

WCC Native Bee Walk June 6, 2023 at 12 pm

WCC Native Bee Campus Walk with Stefanie Steele, Xerces Society  WCC Native Bee Campus Tour June 6 2023

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.  

Start of tour:  The event meets under the arch between the GM and LA buildings

Stefanie will focus especially on bee identification on campus with a guide of the most common Michigan bees. The tour will include the new pollinator garden as well as the Food Forest, Nature Trail, and the Hoop House. Wear walking shoes and a hat as the tour meets under the GM arch for a fun and educational walk on our blooming campus.   Sponsored by the WCC Bee Campus USA Committee and the Bailey Library. Questions: Sandy at mccarthy@wccnet.edu

Registration:  There is no registration required, simply show up at 12 pm under the arch between GM and LA Buildings. WCC employees can sign up in Kalpa.

Handouts with common bees in Michigan from MSU Extension Center will be provided with the tour as well as native/pollinator flowers on WCC campus.

Alternate date should the weather not cooperate is Tuesday, June 13 at 12 p.m. under the GM arch.

WCC Pollinator Garden Planting

Visit the new WCC Pollinator Garden between LA and GM and Children's Center in the circle drive are. 

                                   

 

 

 

 

Group photo at new Pollinator Garden

 

 

 

 

 

Pollinator Garden Planting 2023:

Tuesday, April 18 at 3:30 pm

Thursday, April 20 at 1 pm 

Blooming Lollipops

 Blooming Lollipop  Activity for Pollinators

April 3 -17, 2023 Visit the Bailey Library to create a wildflower blooming lollipop made of non-GMO heirloom wildflowers  to  attract bees and butterflies in your garden. 

 

An Introduction to Our Native Bees and Their Habitat Needs

An Introduction to Our Native Bees and Their Habitat Needs

Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2023  

Time: 4-5:00 pm

Location: Webinar (Zoom)

Join Stefanie Steele, Xerces Pollinator Conservation Specialist for Historically Underserved Urban Ag Bee on an orange marigold Producers in the Upper Midwest, on this bee awareness webinar for Washtenaw Community College. Urban landscapes are diverse and can provide unique habitat opportunities for a diversity of pollinators and other beneficial invertebrates. Come learn about the diversity of native bees in our area, their habitat and nesting requirements, and some of the most important native plants to support them.

This webinar is free and open to all.   Questions?  Contact Sandy McCarthy at mccarthy@wccnet.edu

Bee Events for 2022

Bee Campus USA Events:

  • No Mow May 
  • Welcome Day 
  • Library Display about gardening and pollinators January 2022 - August 2022
  • Nature Walk Tour 
  • EMU Sustainability Tour
  • Nature Walk Tour with Ann Arbor Preservation 
  • Planting Milkweed at the Food Forest with PKT student club 

Bee Campus USA Library Display Winter 2022

Bee display board

Bee Aware Board

Fall 2021 Events

Building the Motor City’s Bee Highway,  BeeTalk with Brian Peterson-Roest,                             Founder of Bees in the D

Urban farming and beekeeping have taken root in Detroit, not just as a hobby or a sideline but as part of an integrated plan for the city’s revitalization. Brian Peterson-Roest, Director of Bees in the D will discuss the sustainable change happening in Detroit with the support of local businesses and engaged community leaders.

Working together to make Detroit the best it can "bee"! 

Date and time of virtual event:   Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 4 pm (45 minute webinar)

Free and open to all. Registration closed. 

 

The bees in your backyard: Effects of urbanization on wild bees

Bees and other pollinator species are crucial for pollinating a third of the food we eat. But many of them are in decline because of loss of habitat, use of pesticides and susceptibility to diseases. We will talk about our work examining the effects of urbanization on bees in Southeast Michigan, and discuss actions to make cities more bee-friendly.

Speakers: Chatura Vaidya, PhD candidate in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan and Gordon Fitch, PhD, is an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Date and Time of virtual event: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 4 pm (45 minutes)

Free and open to all. Registration closed. 

Getting to Know Michigan Pollinators

Getting to Know Michigan Pollinators   

Presentation about Michigan pollinators and how people can help them. Join Ana Heck, Apiculture Extension Educator, Michigan State University Extension, for this informative session.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 from Noon to 12:30 p.m. 

Bees in our Backyard

Bees in our Backyard is an educational outreach and collaborative research program, providing project-based learning opportunities for anyone. Bees in your Backyard takes advantage of the bees in your own backyard or neighborhood. Students become citizen-scientists by surveying the diversity of bees and plants they feed from. How much bee diversity can you find? How does bee diversity vary over time? How does bee diversity vary across geographic and urban neighborhoods? 

Take a picture of bees you find in your backyard.

Bee-Friend the Bees Event - March 2021

Bee-Friend the Bees Virtual EventBee Friend the Bees!

Saturday, March 13, 2021, on Zoom!  Learn about bee-friendly plants and how you can help save the bees with Students for Sustainability Club on Zoom.  The students are planning an educational event, a game with a couple of prizes, an Arts and Crafts event, and a recipe for a Bee-Friendly treat! This event is hosted by the Students for Sustainability Club.   

Bee Campus Awareness Event - Fall 2020

Bee Friendly: Fall 2020!

Did you know that one in three bites of food we eat is provided by pollinators, that 90% of the world’s flowering plants depend on pollinators to reproduce, that bee populations have decreased by 40% over the past few decades! That WCC is a certified Bee Campus USA, or what part you can play in saving the bees? You’re bound to find it all in this pollinator friendly habitat webinar starring Dr. Emily Thompson (Biology and Environmental Sciences) and David Wooten (Biology), Dr. Kimberly Hill-Edwards (Environmental Sciences) and Monica Milla (WCC Community Enrichment), and Holly Herman (Landscape and Grounds). Join the bee panel conversation focusing on bee ecology, native bee houses and plants, campus bee life, bee gardens, bee friendly pesticides, native bee species, and so much more, join us Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 4pm-5pm . Sandy McCarthy will moderate. Bee there!

 

Open to all.  Missed the webinar?  Watch below.


 

Bee Campus USA Awareness Events - Winter 2020

Earth Day 2020 virtual presentation 

The Pollinators award winning documentary 

The Pollinators is a cinematic journey around the United States following migratory beekeepers and their truckloads of honey bees as they pollinate the flowers that become the fruits, nuts and vegetables we all eat. 

Friday, February 7, 2020   in GM 118

Free and open to all

 

Basics of Natural Beekeeping
WCC Economic and College Development

Saturday, February 15, 2020   from 9.m. to 4 p.m.

 

Bee Campus Awareness Events- Fall 2019

Take a Walk on the Wild Side -- August 20, 2019   

 

Washtenaw Community College's campus is fortunate to be surrounded by acres of natural habitat, ponds and wildlife. Come join David Wooten, Biology Faculty,  for an informative and fun hike on the WCC Nature Trail.

 

WCC Welcome Day -- September 11, 2019

 

Promotional material about Bee Campus USA

 

Natural Pollinators Walk-- September 24, 2019

 

Greg Vaclavek will lead a Nature Walk concentrating on Native Pollinators and Their Ecosystems on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 3:30-5:00 PM.  Meet under the GM arch to begin the walk. We’re thrilled to work with the group on campus trying to get WCC Bee Campus, USA certification.