2017 ASHS Annual Conference

The global plight of pollinators has captivated public attention in recent years, from disappearing butterflies to collapsing honey bee colonies. In 2014 former U.S. President Barack Obama created the Pollinator Health Task Force to address this issue. The resulting National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators called for planting seven million acres of enhanced pollinator habitat nationwide by 2020 and increasing public education. Individuals and institutions alike are responding by establishing pollinator habitat and changing their landscape practices. Universities are no exception: college campuses are educating students and citizens about pollinators while incorporating diverse pollinator-friendly plantings on their grounds such as “no-mow zones”, rooftop gardens and greenway corridors. We conducted a voluntary online survey of North Carolina college and university horticulture professionals to describe the current state of campus pollinator protection efforts. Using Qualtrics software, 114 schools were contacted and 55 responses were collected. Survey respondents primarily represented 2 and 4 year public institutions in rural settings focused on liberal arts, vocational skills, or technical/engineering. Of the respondents, 12 had no pollinator habitat, 21 had unmanaged wild areas, and 30 institutions maintained formal or informal pollinator gardens. Interpretation of these spaces was mediocre with 28 respondents indicating they have zero signage and 29 reporting zero communication or outreach to the community. Urban schools reported more public outreach activities than rural schools. When asked about the use of pollinator friendly landscaping and integrated pest management practices in the past 5 years versus in the 5 years ahead, 31 respondents indicated a positive trend. For example, 20 respondents said they had increased their use of native plants in the past, and 27 thought their use of native plants would continue to increase in the future. Most respondents used their general operating budget to fund these projects, while 25 received a grant or financial gift. Only 1 respondent affirmed their institution had an explicit landscaping policy regarding campus pollinator protection. Finally, we combined several questions regarding campus pollinator habitat types and locations into a statistical Pollinator Friendliness Score. Liberal arts institutions scored higher than non-liberal arts institutions on this measure. These results suggest that North Carolina colleges and universities are important contributors to the national pollinator protection movement and that while horticultural practices for pollinators are improving, campus and community education and outreach should be expanded.