Bee Campus USA

Did you know UNT is a Bee Campus USA affiliate? The UNT BCUSA committee, which is composed of students, staff, and faculty, serves to create events and programming that educate our community about the benefits of pollinators to our ecosystem and lives. UNT is dedicated to providing habitat for pollinators and educating the community about the importance of pollinators to healthy ecosystems. These commitments have earned UNT the honor of being named the 1^st Bee Campus USA institution in Texas and the 12^th in the nation!

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

• Developing a campus habitat plan
• Hosting events, workshops, and presentations 
• Sponsoring service-learning projects
• Offering pollinator-focused curriculum or continuing education
• Educating campus and the broader community

Spring Gardening with Pollinators Workshop

A free pollinator-friendly gardening workshop event, co-hosted by the UNT Community Garden, UNT We Mean Green Fund Department, Denton Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center and City of Denton Sustainability, will be held outside at the UNT Community Garden on February 13 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Please invite anyone who may be interested by forwarding the Facebook event.

Spring is a great time to build a pollinator garden. Denton's own excellent gardening resource, Rachel Weaver, will lead this hands-on workshop covering how to plan, plant and maintain a successful spring garden that is sure to draw some of your pollinator friends

 

Bee-utiful Pollinator Sanctuaries at UNT

Join UNT in "beeing" a safe environment for our bee population! UNT hosts many opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to get involved with maintaining a bee-friendly environment. Many of these opportunities are student ideas that blossomed into ongoing campus projects that make UNT an even more environmentally friendly campus. Funded by the UNT student body through the We Mean Green Fund, students, faculty, and staff developed the following pollinator-friendly spaces that promote hands-on education and volunteerism at UNT:

 

 

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 Community Garden: Among many gardens across campus, this 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. Contact CommunityGarden@unt.edu for information about volunteerism or free membership.

UNT Natural Dye Garden: This 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 provided opportunities for other disciplines to utilize the plants in their own research. This garden also houses sculptures integrated within the landscape providing spaces for the community to interact with works of art.

UNT Bee Campus USA Committee Accomplishments

• UNT's Integrated Pest Management Plan sets standards to manage pests in the best possible way for pollinator protection
• UNT's Preferred Native Plant List  helps guide pollinator-friendly planting on campus

• Over 1,000 service learning hours have been completed by students in support of pollinators
• Over 2 acres of Discovery Park's Pollinative Prairie has been seeded with native flowers and grasses
• Native landscaping has been added at the UNT Community Garden
• Seed Ball event at EarthFest 2017 added pollinator-friendly plants to the low maintenance area by Willis Library
• Look for signage on campus and more service learning to come!

How does “beeing” a Bee Campus USA institution benefit UNT?

• Provides learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to see firsthand the positive impact that they can have on the environment 
• Holds us to a higher standard of environmental accountability
• Helps protect bees and other pollinators that contribute to a healthy native ecosystem
• Furthers our commitment to being an eco-conscious campus