SU Earns Bee Campus Honors

SALISBURY, MD---Things are buzzing at Salisbury University!

The campus is the first in the University System of Maryland and the 58th nationally to become part of Bee Campus USA. Honorees are recognized for  creating sustainable habitats for bees and fostering ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role pollinators play in the greater community,especially important to the Eastern Shore’s rural culture.

The initiative was founded by the Xerces Society, a non-profit environmental organization focusing on conserving invertebrates essential to biological diversity and ecosystem health.

SU inaugurated its campus apiary as a student-supported Green Fund project in 2017. In this extra-curricular program, students have an opportunity to learn more about honeybees and beekeeping through four dedicated hives and an adjacent pollinator garden. SU’s award-winning arboretum also benefits from the bees’ presence.

“One in three bites of food eaten in the world is the result of insect pollination, and 90 percent of the Earth’s wild plants are sustained by pollinators,” said Wayne Shelton, SU director of campus sustainability and environmental safety. “From these perspectives, it makes sense to provide students with an opportunity to more closely study and cultivate bees in both controlled and natural habitats. We are excited to be recognized as an official Bee Campus.”

Shelton added he was preparing for the inevitable bee jokes and even has a few of his own: “Who is the most popular singing bee? Bee-yoncé!”

The announcement came less than a year after the City of Salisbury received a similar designation from Bee Campus USA’s municipal affiliate, Bee City USA. Salisbury is one of only 78 cities in the U.S. that currently hold such a designation, according to the Xerces Foundation.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website.