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There’s lots of programs out there to certify your garden as habitat for various critters. Bee City USA is part of the famous Xerxes Society to help encourage people to

• grow more native pollinator plants
• buy said plants from small local plant nurseries
• stop spraying the heck out of their lawns and gardens.

They also are encouraging people to get their local politicians and college campuses involved. Do you want your local city or college to be designated pollinator-conscious, encouraging the planting of native plants?

Homeowners / renters / gardeners actually use massive quantities of pesticides. Most don’t follow label instructions and just go hog wild. Even the organic pesticides can have devastating impacts on your local bees and other pollinators.

The local Bee City USA chapter here in Asheville has started their own certified pollinator habitat program. The nice thing about this local program is that they designed it to be accessible. You can have a balcony garden, growing some plants in pots, and qualify - there’s different requirements based on which level you’re applying for. I helped my colleague host a zoom meeting about this program and we had people from all over Western North Carolina interested in applying. If you’re in the US, there may be a similar project in your area. If nothing else, you can head over to the Xerxes Society who have a tremendous amount of information available.

“ Bee City USA fosters ongoing dialogue in urban areas to raise awareness of the role native pollinators play in our communities and what each of us can do to provide them with healthy habitat. Research has shown significant declines in pollinator population sizes and ranges globally. ​

The Bee City USA program endorses a set of commitments, defined in a resolution, for creating sustainable habitats for native pollinators, which are vital to feeding the planet. Incorporated cities, towns, and communities across America are invited to make these commitments and become certified as a Bee City USA affiliate.”

While the focus is on urban areas, the fact is, habitat destruction is taking place everywhere. The more native plants we can incorporate into the landscape, into gardens, into guerrilla gardens, the better off the local ecology - and therefore we - will be.