2014: The Year that Carrboro Became a ‘Bee City’

Citizens of Carrboro may remember 2014 as the year that town leaders put bees on the A-list.

And for good reason. Everything from a third of what we eat, to the survival of plants and trees, is made possible by the little buzzers.

Jeff Danner, who writes the Common Science column for chapelboro.com, has a personal interest in the subject of pollinators. He’s a bee keeper.

“I plant a number of meadows to try to support native pollinators,” said Danner. “And when I finished that, I was invited to go down and address the Carrboro Aldermen about some of their landscape practices.”

The Town of Carrboro is working on a master plan for a community garden off Hillsborough Road that may include a pollinator garden.

“I’m hoping to talk to them again soon, and just looking at some of the land-use practices,” said Danner. “Because you can support local pollinators, often just by picking sections not to mow, or to mow them only once a year, and let the meadow grow on its own. Let Mother Nature do some landscaping for you.”

In October, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted to designate Carrboro as a Bee City USA community.

Bee City USA is a nationwide program started by the Buncombe County Chapter of the NC State Beekeepers Association. It’s a movement to encourage thriving habitats for bees and other pollinators, at a time when bee populations are dropping off in the U.S.

In June of 2012, Asheville became the first Bee City USA. Carrboro is one of three communities with the designation; the other is in Talent, Oregon.