Gloucester, VA – Gloucester County has recently become a Bee City USA® affiliate, joining many other localities across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators. The County has implemented a Bee City USA – Gloucester County Committee, which meets quarterly to help carry out the mission of sustaining pollinators, which are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90-percent of the world’s flowering plant species.
Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants and free of insecticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honeybees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost ninety percent of the world’s flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume.
“Our community has let it be known that they understand the importance of sustaining pollinators and want to make the County more pollinator-friendly,” said Sherry Kosakowski, Gloucester’s Clean Community Coordinator. “If we can encourage many residents to begin planting native, pesticide-free flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, it will create large-scale change for many, many species of pollinators.”
As part of the program, the local committee will spearhead public awareness activities, each encouraging creation and enhancement of pollinator habitats on public and private land; encourage reducing the use of pesticides and more.
Gloucester joins the cities of Hampton, Newport News and Virginia Beach as eastern Virginia localities that have become Bee City USA® affiliates.
For more information about Gloucester’s Bee City USA® program, e-mail Gloucester’s Clean Community Coordinator at cleancommunity@gloucesterva.info or call 804-693-5370.