Bee Campus USA

Did you know UNT is a Bee Campus USA affiliate? The UNT Bee Campus USA Committee, composed of students, staff, and faculty, is dedicated to providing habitats for pollinators and educating the community about the importance of pollinators in our everyday lives. These commitments have earned UNT the honor of being named the 1st Bee Campus USA institution in Texas and the 12th in the nation!

As a Bee Campus USA institution, UNT is committed to:

A high standard for environmental accountability by developing a campus pollinator habitat plan that contributes to a healthy native ecosystem
Hosting events, workshops, and presentations that provide learning opportunities to the UNT community
Sponsoring service-learning projects on and off campus
Offering pollinator-focused curriculum or continuing education

Support for UNT's Bee Campus USA pollinator initiatives comes from the We Mean Green Fund which is funded by the UNT student environmental services fee.

Want to know more about how to support pollinators on campus and beyond? Visit our page on Creating Pollinator Habitats!

UNT Pollinative Patches

Across campus, there are numerous ‘Pollinative Patches' that act as sanctuaries for pollinators, either by providing beneficial habitats or food plants for the various species of bees, butterflies, beetles, flies and other pollinators we see in the North Texas area. Take a virtual tour of UNT's campus pollinator sanctuaries!

	UNT Community Garden: Among many gardens across campus, the community garden is a place for students, faculty, and staff to learn about organic gardening practices. Frequent garden workdays and workshops provide the perfect opportunity for UNT community members to learn about the importance of pollinators. Additionally, the UNT Community Garden is home to the Community Garden Pollinator Protection Native Bed, a student led We Mean Green Fund project that expands and enhances native flower beds surrounding the garden, which provides food sources for pollinators. Contact CommunityGarden@unt.edu or follow @growmeangreen on social media for information about volunteerism or free membership
	UNT Natural Dye Garden: The dye garden focuses on bringing an interdisciplinary community of students and faculty together - furthering UNT's commitment to building a sustainable future. The dyes derived from the plants in the garden are used by students from the College of Visual Arts and Design while providing opportunities for other disciplines to utilize the plants in their own research. This garden sometimes houses sculptures integrated within the landscape providing spaces for the community to interact with works of art.
	Pollinative Prairie: Located at Discovery Park, the prairie serves as a pollinator habitat and features native grasses, wildflowers, and habitat spaces to protect, preserve, and promote native pollinator populations. Students have contributed over 500 service hours in their partnership with the Department of Biological Sciences. If interested, please contact Dr. Jaime Baxter-Slye at slye@unt.edu.
	UNT Willis Library: The Willis Library is neighbored to two pollinator focused spaces: the Rockwall and the Butterfly Flower Patch. The Rockwall is just behind Willis to the west and is the perfect place for nesting and solitary bees to rest! Additionally, there is a wide variety of native plants that fill the space throughout. The Butterfly Flower Patch is just north of Willis library, near the mall. Funded by the We Mean Green Fund, this flower patch is dedicated to serving North Texas butterflies with a mix of host plants and nectar plants.
	EESAT Parking Lot Preserve: The Parking Lot Preserve is an urban sanctuary on the west side of the Environmental Education, Science, and Technology building. This area is filled with native shrubs, grasses, flowering plants, and trees that are placed with birds and pollinators in mind. This space is managed by the UNT Bird Campus Committee.
	Clark Park Walkway: Along the path from Highland Street to Clark Hall you may see over 300 flowering perennials throughout the year that are all available for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Additionally, the red-brick lined walkway, part of the UNT Central Pedestrian Path, is a pathway connecting Eagle Point to the northeast arts district gateway, linking the main campus buildings and green spaces.