Bee City USA May 2018 E-News
National Pollinator Week Is Coming to Town (and other news of interest to pollinator advocates)
The first World Bee Day is May 20th and National Pollinator Week is coming the third full week of June. Naturally, Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA affiliates are all abuzz with preparations!

Thanks to Kim Bailey at Bee City USA-Hendersonville, NC, for the photo above of an event from Hendersonville's Pollination Celebration month in 2017.
Affiliates' National Pollinator Week Activities
How affiliates are celebrating National Pollinator Week & meeting their commitment of hosting at least one annual awareness event aimed at broadly engaging communities in pollinator conservation
While affiliates can (and do) host pollinator conservation awareness events throughout the year, many choose to take advantage of National Pollinator Week, June 18-24. Across America, Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA affiliates are asking their city councils to make proclamations for National Pollinator Week and hosting educational garden walks, inspiring and informative movies, expert presentations, habitat enhancement events, wild bee inventory studies, or scavenger hunts at farmers markets to link pollinators to our diets.

You can get full instructions and supplies for leading a scavenger hunt at your local farmers market from a previous Bee City USA E-News here .

If you have enjoyed a particular presenter, please send their name, area of expertise and any contact information you have for them to beecityusa@gmail.com to populate our exceptional pollinator conservation presenter database.

Consider registering your event(s) on the Pollinator Partnership's National Pollinator Week calendar here.
NRCS (the Natural Resources Conservation Service) will ship up to 5 free (no shipping costs either) gorgeous Pollinator Week posters. This year's theme is Pollinators and Seeds. Order your 18" x 36" posters here . Past posters and publications are available here (use "pollinator" as keyword.)

This is the poster screeners receive as part of their screening kit.
**NEW!** "The Guardians" documentary about the precarious state of monarchs' overwintering habitat in Mexico to release during National Pollinator Week
Many affiliates have hosted screenings of awe-inspiring, and sometimes disturbing, films like  Wings of Life ,  Flight of the Butterflies ,  A Ghost in the Making: Searching for the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee ,  Queen of the Sun ,  Vanishing of the Bees  and  Bee Movie . 

Now, there is a new, quieter film, about the challenges of preserving the monarchs' overwintering sanctuaries while sustaining human communities.  Mo narch ecologist Dr. Lincoln Brower calls it "an eye-opener for conservation advocates." 

The producers are releasing this documentary,  The Guardians ,  this summer in honor of National Pollinator Week. 

Bee City USA has partnered with the filmmakers on their national screening tour. They are offering our Bee Cities and Campuses a  30% discount on the screening kit , which includes everything you need to a host a successful screening event centered on pollinator conservation--a license to screen the film, printed posters and postcards, a DVD & digital file of the film, discussion guide and digital promotional materials.with an exciting new documentary film. 
Webinars
AASHE Webinar on June 20: Making Your Campus A Bee Campus USA Affiliate
​The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is hosting a free webinar entitled " Making Your Campus A Bee Campus USA Affiliate" on June 20 at 3:00-4:30 Eastern Standard Time. Here is a current list of all Bee Campus USA affiliates.

Here's the webinar description: "While we need pollinators for the reproduction of 90% of the world's wild plant species and three-quarters of crops, announcements of their national and global staggering declines seem relentless. College campuses can help! They can serve not only as models for pollinator-friendly landscaping practices, but also education and outreach centers for changing our landscaping paradigms. This webinar will explain the application process for becoming a Bee Campus USA affiliate and the commitments entailed. Examples of how current affiliates are fulfilling their commitments will be featured."

Register for the webinar here .
Bee Campus USA-Portland Community College's landscape technology instructor Anne LeSenne with upcoming AASHE webinar presenter and PCC Sustainability Coordinator Elaine Cole talking about companion planting in PCC's community garden.
NAPPC Pollinator Roadside Management Awards--Nominations due June 1!
In 2017, the Texas Department of Transportation received the NAPPC Pollinator Roadside Managers 1st Place Award at the annual NVRMA (National Roadside Management Vegetation Association) meeting.
Want to recognize a Department of Transportation for exemplary leadership in roadside habitat creation?
The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign is calling for nominations for the NAPPC Pollinator Roadside Management Award. This is a terrific way to honor transportation agencies for enhancing pollinator habitat along roadways. Anyone can nominate an agency or department, including the agency or department itself. Start your nomination here today.

There have been several webinars about the topic of roadsides and other rights-of-way as pollinator habitat including these two linked recordings from the UIC ERC below. (See reference in Webinar article above.)
Free Seeds Available for Pollinator Habitat
in 11 States
Milkweed seed pod.
Photo By Muffet [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milkweed_seed_breaking_away.jpg
The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund currently has an online application period open for its Fall 2018 Seed A Legacy program. This program offers free pollinator seed mixtures for projects in an 11-state midwestern region--Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 

Applications are open for private, public and corporate lands that are a minimum of 2.0 acres in size or larger. The Fall 2018 program application period is open until August 31 with an online application process that can be located here .

The Seed A Legacy program offers pollinator seed mixtures where 50% of the project is established to a ‘Monarch Butterfly’ seed mixture and 50% of the project is established to a ‘Honey Bee’ seed mixture. More information about the program can be viewed online at the website or the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund Facebook page .
Bee City USA | 828-545-4282 | beecityusa@gmail.com | beecityusa.org