Bee City and Bee Campus USA: Protecting Pollinators One Community at a Time

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Guest Information

To tell us about this wonderful program is Laura Rost, national coordinator of Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA. Laura has been with the Xerces Society since 2014, first working in membership, before transitioning into this role. Before Xerces, she worked for a variety of environmental groups on issues ranging from instream water rights to green building. 

Show Notes & Links

In this episode, we cover the history and basics of how to get certified as a Bee City or Bee Campus. Bee City and Bee Campus follow the same four principles: create and maintain pollinator habitat, provide nesting habitat, reduce pesticide use, and educate your community. The application process includes creating a committee and a small fee. As a Xerces Society program, we provide materials and ongoing education and support.

• Learn more about Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA

Transcript

Rachel: Welcome to Bug Banter with the Xerces Society, where we explore the world of invertebrates and discover how to help these extraordinary animals. If you want to support our work go to xerces.org/give.

Rachel: Hi! I'm Rachel Dunham in Missoula, Montana.

Matthew: And I'm Matthew Shepherd in Portland, Oregon.

Rachel: An important element in the success of pollinator conservation efforts is communities of passionate people taking action. Today we will highlight one os Xerces Society's program that is helping people to do just that, Bee City USA. Established in 2012, Bee City has been uniting communities around a shared goal of creating meaningful change for pollinators through policy change, habitat creation, and education. 

Rachel: To tell us about this wonderful program is our team member Laura Rost, national coordinator of Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA. Laura has been with the Xerces Society since 2014, first working in membership, before transitioning into this role. Before Xerces, she worked for a variety of environmental groups on issues ranging from instream water rights to green building. 

Rachel: Welcome Laura! We're so excited to have you!

Laura: Yeah, thank you so much. Really happy to be here.

Matthew: And as Rachel said, you’re on the team with us, part of our outreach and education team. So this feels like a more like a team meeting in a way. Or just a gathering of friends. But it's great. I'm so, so pleased that you're both on the same team with us. 

Matthew: As our regular listeners know, we like to kind of start with some of the more basic background information. And we're here to talk about Bee City USA, so I'm sure you have an elevator pitch. Yeah? So what is Bee City USA and why is the program so important?

Laura: Bee City USA And Bee Campus USA give communities basic commitments around pollinator protection and then they can carry out those commitments in the way that best reflects the strengths and talents of their communities. So, the work that our affiliates do really runs the gamut, but they all kind of have the same basic principles that they follow, which is the same as all of the Xerces Society’s pollinator work. 

Laura: It follows our Bring Back the Pollinators pledge, sort of, format. We ask affiliates to focus on planting native flowers that bloom throughout the growing season. We're asking them to reduce pesticide usage. And create an enhanced pollinator habitat, in particular natural nesting sites for native pollinators. And then we want them to conduct outreach and education activities. Because we can't take these actions alone.

Laura: So, every community looks different, and it's just a really amazing group of people that are passionate and well-educated and working together to highlight and celebrate the diversity of pollinators in their communities.

Matthew: You also mentioned Bee Campus in the introduction. I mean, that is different from Bee City, is it? In other words, how do those two differ?

Laura: Yeah, so Bee City USA is focused mostly on cities, but also some unincorporated counties and townships. And then Bee Campus USA is focused on colleges and universities. Non-high school colleges and universities, and the commitments are quite similar. But it, it's still those same basic principles. 

Laura: And the types of schools and cities and whatnot that are involved really range. We have very tiny schools and cities, and then very large ones, as well. So these commitments really work for a whole range of situations.

Matthew: You mentioned large and small. Remember, with butterflies? Like, "Well what's the smallest one? What's the biggest one?" So I mean in terms of, kind of, population numbers, what is the range in size?

Laura: That's nice you asked. I actually pulled those stats right before our meeting. So this is perfect. So our smallest affiliate is Amesville, Ohio, with 168 community members. 

Rachel: Wow

Laura: And then our largest is Pinellas County in Florida, which has over 980,000 residents. 

Matthew: Wow. 

Laura: And then for schools. They range from University of Puerto Rico at Utuado, which has 457 students. And our largest school is Arizona State University at 88,000. So, huge range.

Matthew: Yeah, and so that means that these basic commitments, as you say, they can be adapted to the local needs and the local, you know—what they want to do, so it does seem to work for such a wide range.

Laura: Yeah. Definitely.

Rachel: That's really amazing. So can you give us a brief history of Bee City? How did it get started?

Laura: Yeah. So, as mentioned in the intro, Bee City's been around for 12 years. It was originally founded as its own nonprofit by Phyllis Styles in Asheville, North Carolina, which was the first Bee City and she was really initially inspired because she was beekeeping and was aware of colony collapse and was realizing that people were really talking about the impacts to hives, but they weren't talking about what we can do about it, really. So they weren't talking about planting flowers and all these other issues around pollinator health.

Laura: And so when she first started Bee City, it was really focused on honey bee losses. But pretty quickly she transitioned it, when she realized that that wasn't the species to focus on, that honey bees were European, and that there were 3,600 species of native bees that needed our protection. So, she kind of shifted the focus pretty quickly. 

Laura: And then as the program continued to grow in—11 years ago, she decided to create the Campus USA with the help of our first Bee Campus, Southern Oregon University—which is actually my alma mater, which, unfortunately I had nothing to do with that. But very proud, still, that SOU was involved.

Laura: And then, in 2018, she decided that she wanted to move towards retirement. That was 6 years ago. So she asked Xerces, since she'd already worked with us before with helping make the program what it is. She asked that we kind of adopt Bee City and Bee Campus so she could transition into retirement. So, then I was fortunate enough to get to help out and take over Bee City as the national coordinator three years ago and it’s just been wonderful to see it grow and thrive. We have about 50 new affiliates each year which is just amazing. 

Matthew: Yeah. That’s a really nice level of growth isn’t it? Fifty new affiliates each year. Goodness. But yeah, and I also remember Phil from when she started it. And she's such an impressive person. Such dedication, such energy, such welcoming. She had an amazing ability to build a community. And so we're here now, continuing that and building from her foundation, but that was awesome.

Laura: Yeah!

Matthew: Phyllis was impressive and the work the affiliates do now is also impressive. Can you tell us what's achieved? And maybe, I don't know, maybe some examples of projects that have been done?

Laura: Yeah. So we actually just posted our 2023 annual report for Bee City and Bee Campus in July, last month. And if anyone wants to check it out, you can see it at beecityusa.org/blog. And just amazing work was conducted in 2023. It's just astounding how much all of our affiliates do.

Laura: Since 2019, they've engaged over 1.7 million people in pollinator conservation through their events and activities. They've completed over 6,800 pollinator habitat projects over 18,000 acres. And they've held over 8,000 pollinator conservation events.

Laura: And these events really range from bioblitzes, where they're doing surveys of pollinators, to moth nights, where they hang up a sheet in a park with a light on it and allow kids and adults to ID moths. They do pollinator festivals, where they bring in businesses and community leaders to celebrate the diversity of pollinators. They do trivia nights.

Laura: Just all sorts of fun and engaging activities that reflect their communities. And as far as their habitat projects go. They also just do so much. It ranges from doing pollinator plantings and vegetable gardens on the roofs of schools, and renting goats and sheep to eradicate invasive species like kudzu and blackberries, and they do like prescribed meadow burns to bring back the natural meadow ecosystem around their community.

Laura: So, it's just really continually to see their creative ideas and just how they just build and build, you know? There's—everyone—I think it's really important not to focus on perfection with pollinator conservation. We all just need to do what we can, address the low-hanging fruits, and just keep moving forward. So I think there—when we see all these incredible events, it can feel a little overwhelming. Like, we have to—like, oh, I'm not doing all of those things. But collectively, when you add up all these small activities, it becomes something immense and it's just amazing to see the nationwide scale of their work. So it all counts. It all helps.

Matthew: Yeah, ‘cause it seems like with this, you know, tiny city to big city, big county, whatever—it seems like it also—like the habitat projects can be adapted to what you're doing. So it doesn't all have to be like acres and acres and acres. It could just be one small garden plot, for example.

Laura: Yeah. And we have affiliates that will just replace the hanging baskets along their main street with pollinator plants. So it may not be a huge volume of habitat, but it provides a demonstration garden, and shows the beauty of seasonal color, of your native plants, and provides a lot of inspiration. So the habitat might be more, almost symbolic in some towns where it's just a few square feet in front of city hall with an educational sign. 

Laura: But then we have some cities and campuses that have acres and acres of farmland and meadows and forests that they're focused on for their pollinator habitat. So I think that's one thing that's really special, is all of our affiliates just show just how many different ways we can incorporate these habitat and pesticide reduction practices into communities.

Matthew: You say, you know, one small plot. But it's not just like one small plot, and that's it. It's something every year, isn't it?

Laura: Yeah, that's right. So I won't get too much into the commitments, but we do ask that affiliates have—they create or enhance pollinator each year. So it may be a small amount, but they're doing something every year. And then we ask that they have an integrated pest management plan for their city or campus, which provides prevention and monitoring guidelines and emphasizes using pesticides as a last resort.

Laura: And then we ask that they have some sort of educational materials, as far as a website that has links with their resources. And we ask that they have a sign up to advertise that they're a Bee City and celebrate that, or a Bee Campus. And then we ask that they hold at least one pollinator conservation event a year. 

Laura: For Bee Campuses, it's similar commitments. But we also ask that they offer courses or continuing education opportunities with pollinator conservation. And they offer service learning projects to enhance pollinator habitat.

Matthew: So there are lots of ways in which the—it becomes an entire community activity.

Laura: Yes, and it—and the work can really, for the most part, be carried out by volunteers or staff. It can really—it doesn't have to be just through one means. So if a community doesn't have the capacity to work through the city staff or something, they're welcome to recruit volunteers or a nonprofit to help them out with the commitments.

Matthew: That's great!

Rachel: So, Laura, I'm gonna throw a question out there to you, because you're talking about these affiliates. And for folks that aren't familiar with Bee City or Bee Campus, you know, you have to create a committee in order to make all these things happen. But who are the people that are on these committees? Is there a diversity of people? Is it staff? Is it, you know, community members? 'Cause I just think that, obviously, without the affiliates, this work wouldn't be getting done. So can you talk a little bit about who these people are?

Laura: With our Bee City and Bee Campus committees, we ask that they have a diverse range of people involved with their committee. We do wanna see some sort of city staff that's relevant to parks or tree maintenance or landscaping involved with committee. But that can really look different, depending on the community. You know, if they're very small, it may be that it's like the city managers kind of overseeing the contractors for this sort of work. And then, in a larger city, it may be multiple departments worth of people that could be eligible for that committee's participation. 

Laura: But we really do want to see those sort of folks involved, because many of these commitments will affect their work. And we want them to not only know about the commitments of Bee City, but we want them to be on board and excited to make this happen, because their work is essential in so many ways. They're probably the experts in their community on how to maintain that habitat properly, and in a healthy way, long term.  

Laura: Beyond that though, the committees really also just have a huge range participation. It's everything from like high school scouts, to retired professors. Oftentimes there's participation from Keep America Beautiful volunteers. Or master gardeners or just garden clubs. But we really like to see a good mix of people, because one, we want you to be resilient. We want these to hold up over time as people lose jobs or get promoted or they move on. 

Laura: We want to make sure that it's not just one core group, but it's a good mix of community members and leaders who are excited about these topics and have a range of talents and interests. But turnover is just fine. That's very natural with these committees. We just appreciate people's participation as long as they can. But we wanna make sure those committees are really focused on resilience long term.

Rachel: Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for diving into that a little bit. I was able to be part of the Bee City committee here in Missoula. I haven't been a huge part of it recently, but we just became a Bee City or Bee County last year. But just being part of it, I got to meet so many incredible people doing awesome work in the community. One of the women who runs it up is part of the Weed District. And now we're good friends. 

Rachel: So I just—I think the work that you're doing in Bee City is bringing people together in such a really neat and amazing way that has impacts that we probably don't even realize. And just the momentum and the passion that people have when they can come together. So it's been really neat to be a part of it, and it's exciting that it's a part of Xerces, and that you're running it. So, yeah, thanks for describing that.

Rachel: So speaking of affiliates, how many Bee City and Bee Campuses do we have now? What's the tally?

Laura: Yeah. We have grown so much. It's just been really astounding to see just how steady and healthy the growth has been. We currently have 410 affiliates.

Rachel: Wow! It changes every time I talk to you.

Laura: Yeah. So it's almost 50/50 between Bee Cities and Bee Campuses. We have 217 cities, and 193 campuses currently. And we're in 47 states plus Washington, DC. and Puerto Rico. So, yeah, as I mentioned before, we grow by about 50 new affiliates a year. So it's just really sturdy, steady enthusiasm. We don't do a lot of recruiting. A lot of it is just word of mouth. And you know, whenever we have a new affiliate pop up in one location, I noticed that after a few years we start to get kind of a cluster. We get these little hubs of affiliates, and I love that because that means they're supporting each other and communicating and sharing their successes and helping each other do well. It's just really beautiful to see.

Matthew: Yeah, no, I'm glad you mentioned that we're not promoting and that it's all—it's kind of organic growth. Because Bee City is such a great—I mean, it truly is a kind of a grassroots effort, although we provide the framework and the fundamental requirements and, you know, other things along the way. It is really the desire and the energy of the local community who really drives it along and drives the growth. And it's just so wonderful to see more and more people wanting to step forward and help out.

Laura: It really is. Yeah, it's really inspirational and uplifting.

Matthew: Yeah. So with that in mind, I mean, how can a community become a Bee City or Bee Campus? Can you kind of outline what's needed?

Laura: Yeah. So one of the early steps would be forming your Bee City or Bee Campus committee, which—it may shift a bit as you apply, but it's definitely good to kind of bring together your cohort and review the commitments and application steps of Bee City and Bee Campus, which are very easily found on our website, beecityusa.org. There's a section for Bee Cities and one for Bee Campuses. 

Laura: For Bee Cities, they start an application and then draft up a Bee City resolution that's based on our template. And we review it to make sure that—they can shift a few things around, but it needs to be the same commitments as we laid out in the template. So then once that's approved, they can pass the resolution and finish their application. And then, they pay an application fee of between $100 and $500, depending on their population. And then we get them certified, and then they have a full year to get up and running before they need to report and start meeting the commitments of Bee City. 

Laura: After that they would report and pay a renewal fee each February. But if the fee is a barrier, we can waive it. They would just need to let us know. Each year they request a waiver for the fee. So, for instance, if an affiliate gets certified anytime in 2024, they wouldn't be due to renew until February of 2026. 

Laura: And Bee Campus is very similar. The only difference is, it's faster to get certified. And there's no resolution to fill out. They just need to get approval from their highest official and fill out our application and form their committee. And then they again pay an application fee that's based on student enrollment. And it's also between $100 and $500. Again, it can be waived if it's a barrier. And then they have that full calendar year again to get up and running before they report and renew. And if people want more details on the commitments that you'll be reporting on, you can see that at beecityusa.org, under the commitments section under Bee City, and then Bee Campus. They each have a dropdown menu where those are all listed.

Rachel: I have a quick, follow-up question, if that's okay. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who's listening to this podcast, who's a community member. They have no association with the city counselor, the parks department. What would you say would be a good first step for them? If they go to the website, they understand they need to create a committee, who would be someone that would be good for them to reach out to? And then same with campuses. If I'm a student, like, where do I get started in building that community for that committee?

Laura: Yeah. It really varies. Sometimes you may already kind of know of a city counselor or city official that's really excited about conservation or pesticide reduction or pollinators, and so they would be your first stop, if you know someone like that already within the city. But if you don't, I would look at some of the nonprofits in your area, and kind of see who might be kind of a natural ally and ask them maybe just for an informational interview. 

Laura: You can also do this with city staff or elected officials. I really recommend, if you have no certain, sort of, group to start with, to go that route, because it's a low pressure way to ask them questions. And they don't—the person you're asking the questions to—doesn't feel pressure to do something. So you can just say, "How would you feel about Bee City? Do you think this is something we would want to do? What might be some barriers that you could foresee?" And then also ask that person what would their advice be for you if they were you? So, "If you were in my shoes, what do you think I should do next?"

Laura: And this is a really good way to start building relationships and show respect for these people that are probably working very hard and maybe don't have a lot of capacity to take on something else. And let them know that this is something that you're interested and excited about. Keep it positive. We're not looking to criticize current practices, especially around pesticides. That can be really sensitive. Oftentimes people are using pesticides because they lack staff time or money to do hand weeding or getting a volunteer group together to weed or something. So we want to be respectful of the staff and elected officials that are working hard and show them that maybe there's some new tools and new ideas out there that can help our community be safer, and better for bees, and just healthier overall. 

Laura: So keep it positive and constructive. And just start finding out, then, where you see excitement and really kind of let that guide you. If you see a really enthusiastic group, get them involved. And just start chipping away and there's no rush with becoming an affiliate. There's—we accept applications year round. So we really want people to take their time and build that community support and enthusiasm. And just keep it constructive and positive and focused on what we can do better in the future. We're not trying to rehash old issues as much. We really wanna focus on moving together forward.

Matthew: You said about—we're not trying to criticize people using pesticides and so on. We really do want that to change, yeah?

Laura: Yes. Yeah, we don't want to, though, play the blame game. Like we—it's good to know how many, how much pesticides are being applied and really pay attention to that data. But we don't want to say, "And it's your fault these pesticides are being used." We want to say, like, "Hey, I think there's some new ideas out there where we can reduce our pesticide usage. Here's some cool ways that we might be able to do this as a community. Wouldn't this be fun?" And the cool thing about pesticide reduction—it's a very nerdy topic, I know, for some people it may feel dry. But I love it 'cause the alternatives to pesticides are fun. It's goats and fire and community weed pulls and beautiful—switching out like boring nonnative street trees to beautiful native street trees. All these like fun, exciting, just beautiful alternatives. The more you get into it, I think the more exciting it gets.

Matthew: Yeah, I mean, the other side of becoming an affiliate—I mean, there's the steps, and some of them might take a bit of time. But I mean, why is it worth a community doing this?

Laura: There's all sorts of reasons the community might feel driven. It might be kind of the more philosophical idea of we want to support pollinators. And you know, we want a healthy, resilient community in the face of climate change. But it may also be more material. It could be that they choose to participate because this is an opportunity for continuing education for staff and volunteers. Anyone in the community is welcome to join in our webinars and use all of our online resources.

Laura: They might also feel that it's a good way to connect with neighboring communities and other similarly-minded groups. To kind of bond their community around an issue. And then also, kind of more on the fun side, this is an opportunity to brag and celebrate, you know? Like we want people to say, “Wow, look at all the amazing things we're doing together. Let's unite and celebrate and feature these amazing projects and just look at the amazing participation in our community. We have a shared vision and a shared goal. And this is our certification to show that we've accomplished all this.”

Laura: And then also on like a more physical result, we also, in addition—when you become a Bee City or Bee Campus, we send you a very beautiful little welcome package of books and habitat signs and outreach materials. And we're here to support and consult too. Xerces has about a hundred staff throughout the country, and they're here to help our affiliates, if needed, especially around integrated pest management planning. We wanna make sure those plans are resilient and good. So our staff are there to help.

Laura: And then, if you're a Bee Campus, you also can earn two AASHE STARS Grounds Certification Exemplary Practice credits, which is a mouthful. And if you're not familiar with AASHE, it is a sustainability—so it's kind of like LEED certification for buildings, green buildings, but for sustainable college campuses and universities. So you get two credits, and that's all you need to really keep track of is that it helps with your with your STARS rating with AASHE.

Matthew: Yeah, I think they're like going for the new record for the longest credit name or something.  So, yeah, it sounds like, there's lots of great reasons for the community wanting to get together and do this. Yeah, we give them the requirements and the steps, but we're also there to support them, because we do want them to be successful.

Laura: Definitely.

Matthew: Because in in the end, if we're not being impactful and people are not succeeding, then what's the point?

Laura: Yeah. Truly, yes.

Rachel: So what are one or two of the common challenges that Bee Cities or Campuses face in getting certified and maybe staying certified? And do you have any advice for overcoming these challenges?

Laura: Yeah, I'd say, number one is probably turnover. Especially since COVID, a lot of our affiliates have had people move or change jobs, or for whatever reason are not involved anymore. Turnover is a real thing that I think we all need to plan for with any project, you know. So I've been trying to work on helping communicate that to affiliates better, I think. ‘Cause there's always more we can do to kind of help them set themselves up for success.

Laura: So I think that's one thing, especially since we've been around for so long now. The Bee City committees have turned over many times in many cities. So just keeping that diverse mix of participants involved is key. You don't want just one garden club or one botanical garden group to be involved. Pull from a whole cross section. Get businesses involved, even.

Laura: And then I'd say the other big thing is just double checking when you're applying that you've done all the application steps. They're pretty simple, but just especially making sure that you know who your committee members are when you're getting certified. It can change later, but we do need to know who your Bee City or Bee Campus committee members are gonna be when you're getting certified.

Laura: And then, after that, once certified, I'd say the other big issue, especially for grounds and maintenance staff is the maintenance of pollinator habitat. A lot of people get super excited about planting a habitat, organizing that work party to get the plants in the ground. But it's a lot less fun to think about who's gonna be irrigating those plants at the height of vacation season in the summer. Who's gonna be labeling the plants, so we know which ones are weeds and which ones are native plants when we're bringing through kids to help weed and learn about this garden? So making sure that there are people involved with maintenance, I think, is super important.

Laura: And then finally, I think in general just keeping up on pesticide reduction and keeping the ball rolling and not stagnating at a certain level of pesticide use. There's usually always more we can do to keep reducing that pesticide usage, whether it's organizing a weekly volunteer crew to weed at your local park, or keeping track of the pounds of pesticide used annually, and maybe switching out some of those higher impact pesticides for something that's less detrimental to the beneficial insect. And then, you know, continuing education for staff, so they're getting a chance to learn new tools to reduce pesticides. That can really help make a strong, resilient Bee City or Bee Campus program.

Rachel: Well and, Laura, you provide—you do such a good job of providing opportunities for education as well, having our staff talk to the affiliates and having regional meetings where they can share ideas. I think that you really draw on not only our staff's expertise, but other affiliates within the same region, which I think is just a really cool opportunity for folks. And I love that you do that. So, just so people listening know, there's a lot of support that you provide to the affiliates, and that they can provide to each other, even if they're far apart.

Laura: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I always feel like I'm never doing enough to highlight the amazing projects of our affiliates and all their good ideas. That's why I really encourage people to check out the renewal reports of our affiliates, that are listed multiple places on our website—on our annual report and under our work on the website—because the actual reports are astounding. The great advice and just creative troubleshooting that our affiliates do to make things happen—it's just—I could do so much more always to support and promote their good ideas. But yeah, it is, it's amazing to see what they're accomplishing.

Matthew: Yeah. ‘Cause when you were talking about some of the challenges I was like, "Oh. How can we make sure that we finish on a nice, positive upbeat, though?" And you just did that because you—now reflect back on what you said earlier about, was it 1.7 million people reached through outreach activities and thousands of acres of habitat? And you know, and all these activities and actions done to reduce pesticides and make our neighborhoods, our landscapes not just safer for pollinators, but safer for people too.

Matthew: And so it is this like extraordinary community of communities. This nationwide network of people with a with a shared interest. And so it really is amazing what these affiliates get up to. And I'd hope after listening to this, people will feel inspired that they want their community, their hometown, their college campus to join, so that would be wonderful.

Matthew: And with that, we're coming to the end here, Laura. And so we have our favorite question that we ask for our guests. And for this one it's like, what inspired you to work with invertebrates?

Laura: Yeah, so I have known actually since preschool that I wanted to help people and animals. That was my goal. So I credit my mom. She took us to the beach or the park almost every day when we were little—my sister and I were little—in California. And then we moved to Oregon. And then, as I was in late elementary school and part of middle school, we hung out in the forest nonstop and we read a ton of outdoorsy books.

Laura: And yeah, so I kind of always knew this was gonna be my path. And then I learned about the Xerces Society when I ran an environmental career fair in high school to educate our district, school district about green jobs. And the Xerces Society was there. They had one copy of Wings magazine for us to look at, but they didn't have enough to share. I think there was like two people on staff.

Matthew: That sounds like us in the old days, yeah.

Laura: And yeah, it was just—it seemed like a really cool group. And, yeah. So I went away to college at SOU and got my degree in environmental studies with an emphasis in social science and policy, and did a ton of advocacy at SOU for sustainability. And then I set my sights on Xerces and just kept applying for jobs until I got a job and, yeah. I worked in fundraising. ‘Cause I just knew that Xerces was effective. We had a great mission. They treated their staff well, and insects are the foundation of everything. Invertebrates are everything to all species. To all life on earth, so it just seems like the most effective way to help all the beautiful ecosystems that I love.

Matthew: Even though I’ve worked with you for years, I—you probably told me that story once before, but I didn't realize that Xerces had been your aim for quite so long. So yeah, I'm thrilled that you got here.

Laura: Yeah, I'm glad my stubbornness paid off.

Matthew: Yeah. And as far as I'm concerned, it continues to pay off every day, just having you on the team working alongside us. So thank you.

Laura: Oh, thank you, Matthew.

Rachel: Yeah, it seems like it was meant to be, Laura. And I remember when I started, you were like, "I wanna work on your team!" You were still in membership and I'm just thrilled that you're on our team, and you really are kind of the perfect person to be leading up Bee City. It's been really wonderful to hear. I know that we hear about Bee City quite often being on your team, but just the stats, like I said, are constantly changing. It's so impressive, what you're doing. It's so impressive, what the affiliates are doing. So thank you for joining us today. We hope that our audience is inspired to go look up to see if you're already an affiliate, and if not, contact—get out there and contact people and make it happen. So yeah, thank you again for joining us. And we hope our listeners enjoyed it.

Laura: Thank you so much.

Matthew: Bug Banter is brought to you by the Xerces Society, a donor-supported nonprofit that works to protect insects and other invertebrates—the life that sustains us. 

Matthew: If you’re already a donor, thank you so much. If you want to support our work, go to xerces.org/donate. For information about this podcast and show notes go to xerces.org/bugbanter.