Assignment #3 Green Urbanism in Madison (1)-compressed

Written & Photos by: Sally Ford & Alayna Van Rite

Buzzing Toward Sustainability A look into the Bee City Initiative in Madison, WI

Observatory Hill overlooking Lake Mendota in Madison, WI

April 2025

What’s the Buzz?

In 2022, Madison became officially certified as a Bee City.

This project was started by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. This initiative is targeted to college campuses with the goal to encourage the community to work together in order to conserve the native pollinators on site by providing more opportunities for them to habitat. This isn’t an initiative everyone knows about, but it is very unique and it strongly ties to sustainability on a local scale, such as here in Madison, WI. There are signs of this effort all around the city of Madison when you pay a closer look. In city parks like Olbrich Park, James Madison Park, the surrounding landscaping and gardens on campus, and The Arboretum, these areas bloom with flowers and plants every spring that continuously offer food and habitat for the local pollinators.

Where the Bees Live When you take a walk around Madison, there are really so many places for bees to thrive. There are several parks and gardens along campus which have these pollinator gardens.

This is UW-Madison’s sustainability map. The bee icon’s symbolize the specific habitat areas, and the other green icons show locations of gardens, nature preserves, and greenhouses.

As previously mentioned, Bee Campus USA, is an organization through the Xerces Society that created an outline/and or program for the reinvigoration of native plants on college campuses. The purpose of this program is through the conservation of native wild species, pollinators, such as bees, will be better protected against harsh pesticides utilized in non native plants throughout the area. Bee Campus USA is a certification program – which means the UWMadison campus had to meet a number of requirements to hold the Bee Campus USA certification. The certification requires a group/or committee to support the protection of pollinators, such as bees, and then provide support for the establishment of new or preexisting pollinator habitats (an example of this limiting pesticides). A few of the other requirements of the program include, creating educational opportunities for students to learn more about pollinators and conservation techniques, creating or continuing support of Bee Campus USA on online platforms, and creating signs which focus on conservation of pollinators.

As Madison has met these requirements they were awarded the certificate in the summer of 2022. The campus sites of the program our group focused on were the Allen Centennial Gardens, Tripp Lawns, the Music Hall, and Gordon Dining Center.

How Bee City Contributes to Sustainability in Madison The Bee City Certification and Bee Campus USA program contribute to sustainability in Madison, as the initiative spurs initiative in creating spaces that are beneficial to wildlife, specifically pollinators, in our community. Pollinators, as they are smaller members of our ecosystem, may go unnoticed, however, their impact is invaluable. Without pollinators, plants which create flowers would not be able to reproduce or cultivate – the result of this leading to a scarcity of resources for other animals and plants. Supporting the planting of native plants, as shown in the initiative, continues to support sustainable practices in Madison as creating a polyculture environment contributes to overall health of the ecosystem. Unlike plants non-native to the area, native plants create habitats and resources for pollinators that are instinctual to the nature of their purpose, rather than molded into their purpose. Overtime through utilizing native plants, not only will the soil and wildlife benefit, but also will residents of the area – as with greater initiative to plant trees, flowers, and other forms of shrubbery the air quality will continue to become cleaner.

The Gordon Dining and Event Center features a green roof, as pictured in the left from the Campus USA Bee city map, which provides extra habitats for pollinators. On the ground level, as I saw, when we visited the site, you could see the edge of the green roof, however most of the habitat is on top of the event center. Along with the green roof, The Gordon Dining and Event Center had many trees surrounding the building, shrubbery, plots of plants underneath the trees, as well as featured plots of grass on an elevated platform behind the building.

Considering the impact the green roof can have on pollinators, it could be important to provide further signage indicating the feature. This site fits into The Bee City certificate on campus as the Bee City group in Madison is utilizing preexisting campus sites and adding native plants for pollinators to have more available habitats.

Music Hall, another site, a part of the Bee City initiative featured planters on the right side of the building - parallel to the pathway between Chadbourne and Bascom hall - as well as shrubs in the front of the building which were vibrantly green and full of wildlife.

As we visited, I noticed a family of bunnies gathered by a shrub, a dragonfly flying along by the planters on the side and a couple of bees gathered by the grass.

Not only do the shrubs provide adequate habitat for pollinators, but they also provide resources for other animals in the area, such as bunnies. Alongside the planters, were chairs and benches where students were doing homework and enjoying the outside area – in this way, the Bee City initiative was a reminder of how you can create spaces that are reciprocally beneficial for the people in the area and the ecosystem which lives there.

Allen Centennial Garden

Last week, we visited the Allen Centennial Garden for a nice walk and a break to eat lunch. The UW garden facilities and volunteers were hard at work getting things planted for spring. Everything is just beginning to bloom, which means bees will be arriving soon!

The garden offers a lovely path to walk and benches observe, along with a small pond, several trees for shade, and lots of plants and greenery. They have some signs indicating the presence of native bees and the designation of being a bee campus location.

In the garden, native plants such as milkweed, coneflowers, and even goldenrod are present which are great for bees’ habitats as they offer pollen and shelter. Madison is proudly working hard to limit the amount of pesticide use to as little as possible, so areas like this garden aim to be completely free of chemicals that will harm the ecosystems and native pollinators.

Everything is just beginning to bloom!

The perfect spot for lunch

There are six benches to sit and observe

A bee house for native bees to safely nest in solidarity

Madison is doing great to initiate this project and uphold maintenance. However, there is always space to improve!

How Can We Bee Even Better?

Spreading the word about No Mow May signs across more neighborhoods and the campus.

Getting more green spaces around campus to be certified and designated bee-friendly areas.

No more pesticides. Implementing clover lawns instead of grass, especially in areas nearby the bee-friendly zones.

Increasing awareness of the Bee Campus initiative along with its values by bringing more signage to gardens and parks.

It is time to take initiative, Madison!

We can all work to keep Madison in full bloom by the steps we take for our local pollinators and our planet we share. This upcoming May, let your lawn grow and reduce mowing. Stop the pesticide use. And consider planting native species such as sunflowers in your gardens and yards.

To learn more about Bee City locally and globally, visit: www.beecityusa.org

April 2025