Vancouver is formally a Bee Metropolis. In recognition of the significance of native bees, the Vancouver Metropolis Council unanimously adopted a decision April 7 designating Vancouver as a Bee Metropolis USA affiliate.
Kyle Roslund from Vancouver Bee Undertaking stated this system’s purpose is for town to prioritize bee- and pollinator-friendly practices that assist create vital habitat for bees, butterflies and different pollinator species.
Roslund stated the designation comes with sure obligations for metropolis officers.
“They have to do pollinator education annually, and they have to have events centered around pollinators and pollinator education,” he stated. “They have to take a good look at their integrated pest-management plan and update it, and that is the plan that the city uses when they’re doing things like applying herbicides and pesticides.”
Roslund stated town is already doing a lot of the work required by the Bee Metropolis USA program and that the upcoming second annual Pollinator Pageant on June 21 shall be a celebration of that work.
Should you go
What: Pollinator Pageant, with visitor audio system, bee walks, native plantings, sensory backyard and pop-up arboretum
When: 9 a.m. to three p.m. June 21
The place: Marshall Park, 1069 E. McLoughlin Blvd., Vancouver
Value: Free
Info: www.pollinatorfestival.org
“We’ve been doing the education stuff for a long time, and we’ve been planting a lot of native plants,” Roslund stated.
Going ahead, town will proceed to deal with training. Roslund desires residents to know and respect the position bees play in our lives, in addition to the dangers and challenges they and different pollinators face.
“Pollinators have struggled in the last couple of decades. It’s kind of death by a thousand cuts,” he stated. “There isn’t one reason; it’s really a combination of things. It’s urbanization, agricultural intensification, climate change, wildfires, poor air quality, and pesticide and herbicide use. All of these things impact pollinators.”
Town’s training efforts will even embrace which native vegetation to decide on to finest help pollinator species, Roslund stated.
“We want a community that’s engaged and active and interested in these things, too. That’s a huge goal of ours,” he stated. “We want people to have information to make good choices.”
