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Bee City Initiative

What is Bee City USA?

Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Bee City provides the framework for communities to conserve native pollinator habitat by educating and involving the local community, improving best management practices, restoring habitat, and by creating new pollinator friendly landscapes. While bee city is focused on improving habitat for native bee species, it also benefits all pollinators including more commonly known ones such as hummingbirds and honeybees.

How is the city doing its part?

The city has always been committed to pollinators through habitat restoration utilizing the Sammamish Steward Program. In 2022 the City made it official by joining the Bee City initiative. Since joining the initiative, we have:

  • Updated the integrated pest management plan to include bee gardens and bee friendly language.
  • Installed new pollinator gardens at Big Rock Central and Lower Commons Park.
  • Installed bee city signage promoting Sammamish as a bee city
  • Formed a bee city committee dedicated to moving the initiative forward. The committee includes members from the Parks, Recreation, and Facilities team, the Public Works Engineering Team, and volunteer stewards.
  • Established a Pollinator Meadow at Evan's Creek Preserve

How can you help?

  • Install a pollinator garden in your own backyard or your school campus (HOA or School restrictions may apply, please contact associated entities before starting).
  • Plant container flowers on your balcony for pollinators to visit.
  • Volunteer to plant or maintain one of our existing gardens.
  • Include a bee education day as part of your k-12 curriculum.
  • Install a mason bee house.
  • 5 Things Pollinators Need to Thrive

Did you see a bee in one of our parks, want to learn more or need help identifying a bee?

We are interested in knowing what bees occur in our parks, especially at our native pollinator gardens and meadow. We encourage you to upload any native bee photos you have to iNaturalist. You can also see recently sighted bees uploaded by others or upload photos to get help with an ID. To get an accurate ID, it is helpful to have up close photos from multiple angles if possible.

Resources

Sammamish Stewards - our knowledgeable stewards have drafted many helpful guides including “How to build a pollinator meadow” and a “Native Pollinator Guide”. They also have many other resources about building native habitat that benefits many different species.

Upcoming Events

  • Check the City Calendar for upcoming pollinator pop-ups and volunteer events.