Bee City USA with Xerces' Molly Martin & City of Olympia's Amy Stull (S4, E8)

In this episode we talk first with Molly Martin, the coordinator of Bee City USA, and Bee Campus USA, both supported by the Xerces Society.

The Xerces Society is as Pro Pollinator as any group can get, there’s no doubt about that. Of course, our honey bees are probably the best-known pollinators, but there are thousands more out there – other bees of course, but butterflies, birds, bats, beetles, and a host of other creatures.

It all began some years ago when Phyllis Stiles developed a program that cities, and then campuses could adopt that would enhance the environment of that city or campus to the advantage of all the pollinators that lived within its borders. The city or campus would work to develop additional habitat, reduce habitat loss, add to or develop an IPM program to reduce pesticide use, ensure that new plantings would be local, native and beneficial to pollinators, and work to make residents more aware of, support and nurture the value and the benefits of working with pollinators instead of against them.

Phyllis worked on growing this program, and after several years began working with the Xerces Society to help grow it even more.

Today, there are 266 total associates in this program, in 44 states, and the growth has not slowed one bit. Bee Associates, cities or campuses, must from a committee that includes officials and volunteers to make certain the goals of this organization are carried out, new directions are followed and existing programs that do not enhance pollinators are removed or modified. Xerces provides ample educational web sites, webinars, videos, signage, and additional support to the community so that the efforts of the city or campus not only continues to grow, but also continues to improve.

Then, Jeff makes an unplanned visit to talk with the City of Olympia’s project leader for their recent Bee City Certification, Amy Stulls. Amy shares the City’s inspiration, plan, program and future of their Bee City designation. Amy is definitely someone to listen to if you are planning a Bee City certification for your town.

Listen in as Molly and then Amy share what you will need to do to become a Bee City USA, or Bee Campus USA and help grow an organization the supports honey bees and beekeeping certainly, and all pollinators.

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Bee City USA / Bee Campus USA: https://beecityusa.org
• Xerces Society: https://www.xerces.org
• Bee-ing Diverse - Bee Culture October Event: https://store.beeculture.com/beeing-diverse-inspiring-leaders-in-beekeeping-october-2021/
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected]

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Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC