Bee Campus USA

In 2016, SUNY Cortland became the sixth campus to be certified as a member of Bee Campus USA. The Garden Advisory Committee coordinates the University's efforts to maintain and improve pollinator habitat and educate the community on the importance of pollinators. These efforts include:

• The University follows a least-toxic Integrated Pest Management Plan
• The University also connects pollination issues within the curriculum. In addition to broader student and faculty research projects, the Biological Sciences Department offers CON 460: Conservation Biology Seminar, in which Pollinator Conservation is a topic of research.
• SUNY Cortland holds events each year to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators in conjunction with our Bee Campus USA certification. Upcoming events can be found on the Events page.
• The University has incorporated some no-mow areas and wildflower gardens on the main campus including a one acre bioswale adjacent to the biology building.  A guide was developed to list the native species that have been planted.
• The University manages a model garden and a permaculture garden on the main campus. Bees are essential pollinators of many of the plants grown in the model garden such as tomato, pepper, legumes, and squash.
• SUNY Cortland also maintains biodiversity at its field campuses coordinated through the William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education.  These include the Antlers and Camp Huntington at Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks of northern New York, Brauer Field Station in South Bethlehem near Albany, New York, and Hoxie Gorge Nature Preserve a few miles from campus.The Hoxie Gorge Nature Preserve was recently added to the Old Growth Forest Network and the one mile self-guided McDermott Nature Trail includes 38 marked stations describing the natural history of the preserve.

Contact the Garden Advisory Committee to get involved with our Bee Campus USA efforts!