Mayor Ganim Announces the City of Bridgeport Becoming an Affiliate of Bee City USA

January 9, 2025

Bridgeport, CT - Today, it was announced that the Bridgeport City Council unanimously voted for the City of Bridgeport to become a Bee City USA®, joining many other cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators. The Bridgeport City Council's action is the culmination of months of effort by Black Rock Pollinator Partners and Garden Club, the City of Bridgeport Sustainability Office, Aspetuck land Trust, and many others invested in pollinator habitat and protecting pollinators to accomplish this affiliation. The Council's vote was made after a presentation by Chadwick Schroeder of the City of Bridgeport Sustainability Office to Subcommittee on Economic and Community Development and Environment members.

Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA's mission is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants and free of insecticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honeybees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost ninety percent of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume.

Mayor Ganim said, "Our City Council let it be known that we understand the importance of sustaining pollinators and want to make the city more pollinator friendly. We are grateful to Mardi Morrow, Chadwick Schroeder, and Reggy Saint Fortcolin for bringing the opportunity to our attention."

"We are thrilled that the City of Bridgeport's City Council shared our vision for Bridgeport to join the Bee City USA movement," said Reggy Saint Fortcolin with Aspetuck Land Trust

Mardi Morrow, who played a leading role in the campaign, said "During the year that we have worked on our application to become affiliated with Bee City USA, I have been so impressed with the number of pollinator gardens and wildlife habitats that have already been created all over our city. This is only the beginning! I'm looking forward to spreading the word and encouraging more folks to plant native wildflowers and shrubs to support insects, birds and other wildlife at churches, daycare centers, senior centers and backyards in every neighborhood"

According to Mardi Morrow during the process of applying for the affiliation, over 20 different organizations signed on to support the initiative.

"The program aspires to make people more PC-pollinator conscious, that is," said Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces' executive director. "If lots of individuals and communities begin planting native, pesticide-free flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, it will create large-scale change for many, many species of pollinators."

"How each city completes the steps to conserve pollinators is up to them," said Bee City USA Coordinator Laura Rost. "To maintain their affiliation, each affiliate is expected to report on their achievements and celebrate being a Bee City USA affiliate every year."

Each affiliate should hold public awareness activities; publicly acknowledge the commitment to the program through a standing committee, signage and web links; and prepare an annual report on habitat enhancement activities. Bee City USA especially encourages school gardens and educational programs for children.

The City of Bridgeport has designated BEEport through Aspetuck Land Trust, the facilitating committee for the City's efforts to engage the community in promoting pollinator conservation. The BEEport committee meets virtually, the second Tuesday of the month, at 5:00 PM and invites all residents of Bridgeport to offer their ideas for pollinator-friendly initiatives.

For more information about Bridgeport's Bee City USA program, contact Chadwick Schroeder at Chadwick.schroeder@bridgeportct.gov, or Committee co-chairs Mardi Morrow at mardimorrow@yahoo.com, or Reginald Saint Fortcolin at rsaintfortcolin@AspetuckLandTrust.org

###

To join the BEEPort mailing list, visit https://forms.gle/13v1APuGQyRPZhmL8

For more information about Bee City USA, visit https://www.beecityusa.org/

For more information about the Xerces Society, visit https://xerces.org/

For information about four simple ways to help pollinators, visit https://xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators/

For more information:

communications@bridgeport.gov