Yellow face bumble bee - Hannah Kistner Pruinose squash bee - Kristi Liu
What does it mean to be a certified Bee Campus USA affiliate?
To become an affiliate, we must continue maintaining our native bee habitat, limiting pesticide use, and offering educational and service-learning opportunities. By doing so, we will have ensured the survival of a vital species within our community, improved local food production through promotion of local pollination, and heightened awareness of biological diversity. Now that we are certified, we can continue growing our community by empowering each other to protect the life that sustains us. As affiliates, we have access to exclusive training opportunities from topics covering Integrated Pest Management to lessons on planting support pollinators. We will also have support from Pollinator Conservation Experts backed by the Xerces Society.
Why is this important?
There are over 90 different types of bees native to Santa Barbara alone. Native bees are essential because they pollinate almost all the flowering plants in the local community, which, in turn, produces the fresh and healthy food we eat everyday. Despite this, bee populations are declining everywhere, including in Santa Barbara. Our goal is to support the local bee population by creating pollinator habitats within our community. We also aim to raise awareness by hosting educational workshops and events, creating volunteer opportunities, and making UCSB a certified Bee Campus USA affiliate.
We are proud to be funded by the UCSB Coastal Fund
Learn More:
Read more on California's Native Bees:
Read more on California's Native Plants: