Provo recently became the first city in Utah to join the Bee City USA initiative, a national program that promotes education and protection for native pollinators.
The initiative is a part of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit organization focused on pollinator conservation, endangered species conservation and reducing pesticide use.
The idea to bring Bee City USA to Provo came from Provo City Council member Rachel Whipple, who learned about the program at an environmental research conference.
“I heard about their initiative and I thought, ‘This would be a cool thing for our city,’” Whipple said. “So I brought the information back and gave it to Hannah Salzl.”
Salzl, the city’s sustainability coordinator, had worked on adopting the Conservation and Resiliency Plan back in 2023. When Whipple approached her, she saw Bee City as a natural extension of Provo’s broader conservation goals.
“We define sustainability, and this is a pretty common definition, as the ability to meet our needs of today without compromising the opportunity of future generations to meet their needs as well,” Salzl said.
Joining Bee City USA required the city to pass a resolution and adopt a plan to promote pollinator health. The resolution outlined Provo’s commitment to public education efforts, signage throughout the city and a dedicated website with information about pollinator-friendly practices.
While the Xerces Society provides a template for the resolution, Provo was tasked with tailoring the template to fit its unique form of government.
David Pyle, a city intern who helped lead the initiative, said navigating that process wasn’t easy because of Provo’s “strong mayor” form of government.
“We had to rework that resolution a little bit to make it compatible with our government and get Xerces Society to approve it,” Pyle said. “Which, eventually, they did.”
Getting the resolution across the finish line required collaboration across city departments.
“Nothing happens without the support of multiple departments,” Pyle said. “In our case, we needed the Parks and Recreation Department to actually administer the program and the Development Services to coordinate with the Citizen Sustainability Committee.”
Once those pieces fell into place, the initiative passed with support from the city council and residents.
Most of the community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. However, a few residents expressed concerns about cost and the potential for people to neglect their lawns under the guise of promoting pollinators.
“Certainly, there are bad actors who might use this as an excuse [to stop mowing their lawns,] but that’s why the education component is actually important,” Whipple said. “We need to give them the information so that they can do the good they want.”
Whipple noted that the Bee City initiative will not be coming out of the city budget.
“There is a fee to remain a part of Bee City, which is $500 a year,” Whipple said. “But that fee is being paid by citizens who actually care about this.”
By involving residents directly, Provo hopes the Bee City USA designation will empower the community to steward the land in meaningful ways. City leaders see this not just as an environmental statement, but as a call to action.
“We need to empower residents to use the land that they’re on to be good stewards,” Salzl said.