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CSU becomes a certified "Bee Campus USA"

CSU becomes very first bee certified campus in Colorado.
Credit: Thinkstock by Getty

FORT COLLINS - Study after study after study has shown bee populations are dwindling.

So Colorado State University has dedicated a lot of time to helping bees survive and is now being recognized for it.

It is now a certified "Bee Campus USA." CSU is the only place in Colorado with a bee certification.

It's a special designation for campuses, or cities, that actively support habitats for pollinators like bees, butterflies and bats.

"There is a national group that certifies campuses as being, Bee Campus USA, with the intent they are following the best practices, enhancing their habitats, they are getting the word out on pollinators," said Fred Haberecht, a campus planner at CSU.

Haberecht said CSU is meeting all of those qualifications and students and staff hope the new certification will help move their efforts forward.

"CSU is a leader in sustainability and we believe this is a way to push those sustainability goals further," he said.

For the first time in 50 years -- CSU added three new beehives to campus. The bee colony sits outside the university's Durrell Dining Center. Students in the CSU Apiculture Club manage the colony. You can watch the colony on the new "BeeCam."

"The hope is the bees sustain themselves through the year and over the winter and there will be honey for the dining center come 2019," Haberecht said.

Haberecht said the campus' new certification will help CSU drive the importance of pollinators to our ecosystem.

"If we look at what we eat, some 90 percent of the good products are from pollinators," Haberecht said. "If we look at our whole, just the health of the general environment, pollinators create a critical role in that environmental health -- and universities like CSU have a responsibility to create these enhanced environments and educate both our campus community and the general public."

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