What’s all the Buzz about at UNT?

DENTON- It may look like an abandoned garden with weeds to passersby, but this 4-acre prairie and dried up native Texas tall grass at the University of North Texas Discovery Park, houses many plant pollinators especially during the spring.

UNT was the first four-year university in Texas to be recognized as a bee campus and is now one of six Bee Campus USA participants that create a safe and diverse bee-friendly environment.
Environmental Science lab supervisor at the University of North Texas, Jamie L. Baxter-Slye, Ph.D. has served on the Bee Campus USA committee for the last two years.

The initial idea came from Slye’s friend, Jennifer Bailey from grad school. The idea was to turn an invasive grassland known as Bermuda grass into a native Texas prairie. However, the project was made possible by the associate director of sustainability, Gary Cocke.

Working on pest management to keep a pollinator-friendly environment is one of the keys to becoming a bee campus.

“It’s been shown that bees, if they pollinate something with a neonicotinoid pesticide, then it gets into their systems and it’s one of the factors that cause that bee colony collapse disorder,” Slye says.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are known to harm plant pollinators. The neonicotinoid spreads to every part of the plant tissue and harms any bee that pollinates the plant.

It is through the incorporation of friendly herbicide practices and many volunteers that this project has continued to expand on developing a safe environment for bees.

UNT community garden employee, Maggie Brookshire, is a part of the Bee Campus USA Committee and the We Mean Green Fund which approved the project funding. While Discovery park is where Bee Campus USA started, Brookshire likes the addition of the UNT community garden.

“The garden wasn’t founded as a Bee Campus USA, but we have a garden and we wanted to get the campus designation,” said Brookshire.

As a bee campus, UNT provides more than just a habitat for bees, it also provides volunteer workshops on campus that raise pollinator awareness and sustainability. As an employee at the community garden, Brookshire attends the workshops and learns more sustainable practices.

Student volunteers like Brookshire that have attended the pollinator workshops have the opportunity to gain knowledge on the matter.
UNT biology major Kathaya Nhey, was surprised she has never heard of Bee Campus USA or attended a workshop, but thinks the community garden designation is good.

“UNT is all about being environmentally friendly,” Nhey says.

The goal for the pollinator prairie is to expand to 4.5 acres of native grassland for the bees.

The wet season just before spring did not allow for many improvements to be done, but volunteers were able to plant one acre for this spring. Slye says the ground should be ready and prepared to do three acres of seeding and many volunteers will be called on to plant a grand total of 8,300 plants.

“The idea is that they would learn which plants are Texas native plants, how to plant them and what their importance is to pollinators, biodiversity and water conservation,” Slye said.