On July 12, 2021, Adam Dolezal, May Berenbaum, Layne Knoche, Eliana Brown, Morgan White, and Avery Maloto met over Zoom to discuss pollinator efforts on campus. The conversation included topics such as: Bloom Calendar, Red Oak Rain Garden, Dorner Drive Retention Pond, Setting up a BioBlitz, and more.
See the attached file to view the minute notes.
Discover Magazine released an article highlighting the biodiversity benefits that can stem from pairing solar farms with pollinator-friendly plants. Supporting its claims with initiatives from universities across the country, the article recognizes the University of Illinois' pollinator habitat at Solar Farm 2.0.
Read the article on Discover Magazine. Or, refer to the PDF of the article in the attached files.
Calling all citizen-scientists! The Seventh Annual BeeBlitz will be on Saturday, June 26th, 2021 from 9-11 AM CDT!
To attend, meet at the Pollinatarium or go bee spotting in a forest, prairie, or backyard near you! Bring your camera or smartphone and be ready to snap photos of honey & bumblebees, then upload them to BeeSpotter to contribute to its database of Midwestern bee spottings.
Interest in this project began in October 2017, at the AASHE Student Summit. Several residents of the Sustainability Living-Learning Community attended a workshop at this summit about the Bee Campus USA movement. These students were inspired by the progress of other universities and decided to start this project on our own campus. From that point on, the Sustainability LLC, Facilities & Services, Red Bison Ecological Restoration (RSO), and the Pollinatarium have collaborated to ensure the success of this project. The application process in this project must be done annually to maintain the Bee Campus USA certification.
Bee Campus USA is a nation-wide movement to support pollinators on university campuses. A university that is Bee Campus USA-certified proves that they are progressing in awareness, native plant landscapes, and safe pest management. The Bee Campus committee developed an official web page in spring 2018 and worked with Facilitites & Services to develop a University Habitat Plan. In addition, with funding from the SSC, we will be installing pollinator signage on campus in fall 2018.
A 24" by 36" blank sign was installed at the corner of Florida Avenue and Orchard Street, by the Florida-Orchard prairie, near Orchard Downs and the Presidents’ House. The information planned to be featured in the sign will originate from the new Bee Campus brochure. This text will highlight the Bee Campus student organization, information about pollinators, as well as university and campus initiatives to be more pollinator-friendly. Thanks to funding by SSC, the signage will be ready for public display by the end of 2021!
See the attached files to view the installation of the blank sign!
F&S submitted the Spring 2021 Semesterly Report to the SSC for the Solar Farm 2.0 Landscape Buffer project!
Read the report in the attached files below.
Photos were taken by Alice Berkson from January 2021 - May 2021 of the Florida-Orchard prairie on campus. These photos are taken each month at the same locations and are of a high enough resolution such that small sections can be enlarged to identify plants and other features. Each month, there are 4 photos taken from the view of NW diagonally looking SE, NE diagonally looking SW, or vice versa. Additional shots from other perspectives are taken as well!
Entomology Today released an article highlighting the strategy and benefits behind pairing solar energy with pollinator habitats. Supporting its claims with UIUC and Iowa State initiatives, the article discusses content such as the scorecard approach, efficiency of the positioning of planted vegetation, and restrictions from geographic locations.
Read the article on Entomology Today. Or, refer to the PDF of the article in the attached files.
Kelly Allsup, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator, is hosting a Swallowtail Butterflies Webinar on June 14, 2021, from 12-1 pm.
During this presentation, Kelly will tell you what plants need to be put in your garden to help 6 species of swallowtail butterfly caterpillars! Make sure to tune in via Zoom to learn more.
The 350 square-foot pollinator garden at the National Soybean Research Center is planted! The weather was beautiful and we had a fun time hearing plant stories and learning about our very own native species from Layne Knoche. Check out our Facebook post here.
Huge thank you to Layne Knoche, Eliana Brown, and the whole Red Oak Rain Garden team, Eric Green, Michael Dzianott and the Red Bison team, Joey Kreiling, Blake Cedergren, and the From the Ground Up team, and all friends who helped out with the planting.
Stay tuned for more fun!
The attached file shows the planned location for the large Bee Campus sign to be installed at the Florida and Orchard Prairie.
The Bee Conservancy, an environmental NPO, is handing out hundreds of free native bee homes across the U.S. and Canada in hopes of boosting native bee populations.
As part of its Sponsor-A-Hive program, the group is offering 500 native bee homes to community-focused organizations that support food growth, education, or ecological conservation. (Two hundred were awarded in fall and 300 are being awarded this spring.) Eligible groups include community gardens, nature centers, schools, tribal organizations, parks, and zoos. According to Guillermo Fernandez, founder and executive director of The Bee Conservancy, "We’re looking for organizations that share our passion to nurture local bee populations, create habitat for them, and support their communities and local food systems."
Applications are open until the end of April 2021!
Read more about The Bee Conservancy native bee home giveaway in the TreeHugger article.
The large sign frame for the Bee Campus signage was delivered to campus today.
CUSTOM DOUBLE CANTILEVER DISPLAY (45 DEG)
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Beginning in 2011 Alice Berkson began taking photos at the Florida – Orchard prairie on campus next to the President’s House. The photos were taken each month from the same locations beginning in 2013. The two years prior to that all 12 months are not represented. A few photos are missing including all of October 2015. A few extra shots are occasionally included of unusual situations or plants.
See https://uofi.box.com/s/cfmmscpv2335f57g7nzngx4g8nf4cqgj to view or download the images.
The photos are in yearly folders. Individual photos are labeled with the date first YYYY-MM-DD so that they will sort in order.
Photos were taken at the four corners. At the North corners along Florida Avenue shots were taken east to west and west to east as well as diagonally from NE looking SW, and from NW looking SE. At the southern corners, only the diagonal photos were taken.
The resolution on the photos is high so that small sections can be enlarged to identify plants and other features.
As of this writing the series is complete from 2011 through 2020.
John C. Marlin January, 2021
Try out citizen science in your own backyard! Melody Arnold, President of the Macon Co. chapter of the Audubon Society, will describe the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, happening February 12-15 this year. She will talk about a few of the birds that we are most likely to see in this area and how we can participate. This program is brought to you by East Central Illinois Master Naturalists.
February 1, 12 PM
Amanda Christenson • Cooperative Extension Service
The following scope change was submitted to SSC for the Pollinator Awareness Sign:
Originally, there were no signs at all on campus showing how pollinator friendly the campus is. Now there are four; and the University is now considered part of Bee Campus USA. Now we want to add a bigger sign outlining the bee campus student organization, progress the campus has made, and changes the university implemented to be more pollinator friendly. This sign will include an acknowledgment of the SSC funding for the signs and for several of the pollinator friendly plantings around campus.
The funding does not need to be increased, but we are requesting a schedule extension of one year. The design of the sign is anticipated to take at least one month, so that students can assist with the content development, then the sign will be ordered, and since it may be winter –time when the sign is ready for installation, we may not be able to install it until the spring thaw. Please approve an extension to May 2021.
Read the Scope Change in its entirety in the attached files below.
Craig Chamberlain, a Social Sciences Editor for Illinois News Bureau, released an article highlighting the lack of coverage dedicated to bees in mainstream news. Supporting his article with a study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it was found that the amount of attention dedicated to "pollinator population topics" has significantly declined over several decades.
Read Chamberlain's article through Illinois News Bureau or the PDF in the attached files!
The Bee Campus USA renewal efforts are documented in this updated Bee Campus plan.
