Pelham achieves Bee City USA member store designation
Published on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 2:12 p.m.
- On Wednesday, May 1, the City of Pelham announced that it has achieved membership status with Bee City USA. This puts Pelham on par with the organization’s more than 210 other member organizations. (File)
Written by Donald Mottern | Staff Writer
pelham – On Wednesday, May 1, the City of Pelham announced it has accomplished its mission to become a member city of Bee City USA. This brings Pelham into partnership with more than 210 other member cities within the organization.
By becoming an affiliate of Bee City USA, Pelham joins an effort focused on improving natural landscapes and supporting the proliferation of pollinators such as honey bees. The designation came after a months-long application process involving the Pelham Garden Club, Pelham Parks and Recreation, and other like-minded city officials.
Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, an organization dedicated to inspiring change and investment to retain pollinators in communities. The organization undertakes many activities to achieve its goals, including constructing and providing healthy habitats rich in a variety of native plant species and allowing those habitats to exist without pesticides. is encouraged.
The organization seeks to protect all pollinators, including bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, bats, and many other species, while giving namesakes to certain insects. I am striving to do so.
Pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90 percent of the world’s flowering plant species, and they play an important role in one in every three bites of food consumed by humans, the organization said.
Bee City USA and its sister organization Bee Campus USA are both programs that recognize, support, and encourage pollinator conservation within cities, towns, counties, and college campuses, respectively.
The City of Pelham’s involvement in the program began in earnest when the late Teresa Nichols Riddle, former City Council President and avid member of the Pelham Garden Club, began the application process for the City to become a member. Ta. Work continued when Riddle became ill last November, but Garden Club member Jim Collins took on the project and saw it through to completion.
“Teresa started the application process and it was extensive,” Collins said. “The resolution was passed by the Pelham City Council on November 20, 2023, approved by Pelham Mayor Gary Waters, and seconded by City Manager Gretchen DiFante.”
After months of work, the city officially received word that the organization had granted Pelham membership just weeks after Riddle’s death in March.
“Our City Council has made it known that we understand the importance of retaining pollinators and want to make our city more pollinator-friendly,” Waters said. . “We would like to thank Dr. Teresa Nichols and the Pelham Garden Club for bringing this opportunity to our attention.”
Pelham is currently one of only two cities in Alabama to achieve Bee City USA member city status, with Mountain Brook being the other municipality to receive this designation. The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Auburn University have also achieved similar status through Bee Campus USA.
To maintain the designation, Pelham and all other cities granted the designation must submit an annual review report and submit an annual renewal fee commensurate with the city’s population size. Based on current demographics, that amount will likely be $200 when Pelham renews its position.
The organization reports that since 2019, more than 1,625 habitat projects covering more than 12,900 acres have been completed in the name of conservation.
As a result of Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA’s efforts, the organization reports that more than 1,129,086 people are now engaged in its mission to protect pollinators.
