Bee Campus Certification

Bee populations have been declining quite drastically. However, these small insects are important contributors to Earth’s ecosystems. As one of the countless environmental issues facing the planet, their losses threaten global food production, biodiversity, and species survival. There are numerous reasons for shrinking bee populations, with habitat loss from climate change constituting one example. Another major issue is that American households and industries expose bees to a class of pesticides called “neonicotinoids,” which harm the pollinators’ ability to survive and pollinate.

This is an issue of justice and welfare; if humans are responsible for habitat loss and pollinator deaths, then we are now also responsible for rebuilding habitats and conserving pollinators.

To protect pollinators’ right to life and flourishing, UCI follows practices recommended by Bee Campus USA. Under this program, all Bee Campus affiliates are committed to:

Establishing a standing Bee Campus USA committee to advocate for pollinators.
Creating and enhancing pollinator habitat on campus by increasing the abundance of native plants, providing nest sites, and reducing the use of pesticides.
Offering service-learning projects to enhance pollinator habitat.
Displaying signage focused on pollinator conservation.
Offering courses or continuing education opportunities that incorporate pollinator conservation.
Maintaining an online presence for Bee Campus USA activities.

Getting Involved

If you are interested in attending upcoming events and opportunities, please visit the Sustainability Resource Center’s event calendar.

If you are interested in assisting with program development, you are welcome to join our Bee-Friendly Committee meetings, which take place every Wednesday of Weeks 2 and 8, at 11AM-12PM. At these meetings, you will have the chance to meet and collaborate with students, faculty, and staff from different departments across campus. You can join us at our next meeting using this Zoom link.

If you would like to connect with our team directly, you can also reach us at pollinators@uci.edu.

Resources

Plant Database

Browse our list of pollinator-friendly plants native to Irvine! This database was created using information from Calscape.

Nursery Database

At this website, you can find information about local plant nurseries. Please note that this resource is not updated regularly; if you find outdated or missing information, please contact us at pollinators@uci.edu.

Integrated Pest Management Plan

UCI’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan guides the use of environmentally sound pest management strategies and least-toxic control methods to protect the health and safety of the campus community and environment. IPM at UCI is defined as managing indoor and outdoor pests (plants, fungi, insects and/or animals) to protect human health and the surrounding environment and to improve economic returns with the least risk to humans and the environment.

Past Projects

Each year, Bee Campus USA affiliates publish reports of their activities and accomplishments.

We will publish our reports here beginning February 2023.

Our Story

Mission

UCI’s Bee-Friendly Committee aims to protect pollinators by following the “Bee Campus” certification framework created by Xerces Society. Under this framework, we coordinate programs that educate and mobilize students, faculty, and staff on the issue of declining pollinator populations. To accomplish this, we oversee planning for sustainable operations, informative and hands-on workshops, and engage in leadership and facilitation training in combination with the UCI Sustainability Resource Center. We offer opportunities for students to develop leadership and communication skills through positions in the Committee.

Vision

Our aim is to maintain social and physical infrastructure that protects pollinators’ rights to life and energy. In doing so, we also hope to combat larger issues of environmental injustice, species death, diminishing biodiversity, pesticide poisoning, and food insecurity. Through raising awareness of pesticides and habitat fragmentation, we intend to address sustainability issues regarding land conservation and agriculture. We will track and sustain progress towards campus and systemwide sustainability measures to aid native pollinators, plants, and other animals in our community.

History

Efforts toward Bee Campus certification began in 2018, from within UCI’s chapter of the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). The nonprofit had already had success with attaining Bee Campus certification at other universities through their “Save the Bees” Campaign framework; so Rory Stewart — CALPIRG’s organizer supervising the UCI chapter at the time — proposed bringing the campaign here. Celine Saade, a 2nd year undergraduate, took on the responsibility of coordinating the campaign for the first two quarters of that school year. She was motivated by her love of gardening; as she explained, leading this new campaign for Bee Campus certification was a “natural choice because there’s no gardening without pollinators.” Celine added, “Since Earth can’t speak, we have to speak for it… [and] it would want us to take care of it and its pollinators.” (She later graduated in 2020 with a major in biology, a field she chose because of her concern for bodies and health.)

At the time, there was one UC with certification, but UCI faculty and staff were very open to the initiative. According to Celine, one outstandingly supportive staff member was Dr. Peter Bowler, faculty advisor for the UCI Arboretum and Herbarium; and even now, he continues to provide immense wisdom and energy to our team. Celine’s campaign mainly targeted the use of pesticides at UCI, particularly neonicotinoids. They also requested more pollinator-friendly plants on campus, and this resulted in a few particular flowers at the campus’ outskirts, at the parking lot between PSLA and MSTB.

Celine’s campaign concluded after those first two quarters of the 2018-2019 academic year. But the following school year, Sage Wuu — a first year undergraduate and new member of CALPIRG — rediscovered and reestablished the campaign at UCI. As a freshman studying biological sciences as well, Sage fulfilled most of the requirements for certification: she formed a “Bee-Friendly Committee” of faculty and staff, she obtained $500 in funding for the application fee, and so on. When summer came, she passed the project to Alyssa Romea, a rising sophomore studying political science and environmental science and policy. Building upon Sage’s work, Alyssa fulfilled the last requirement for certification, which was receiving an endorsement from the chancellor. On February 3, 2021, UCI officially became a certified Bee Campus.

Now, the Bee-Friendly Committee maintains UCI’s Bee Campus certification, coordinating programs that educate and mobilize people on the issue of declining pollinator populations.