On April 8, 2024 the Novi City Council unanimously voted to become a Bee City USA®, joining many other cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators. This action, alongside the culmination of months of effort by the Beautification Commission to accomplish this affiliation was officially certified on August 16, 2024.

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.

“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 largescale 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.
City Council has designated the Beautification Commission the facilitating committee for Novi’s efforts to engage the community in promoting pollinator conservation. The Beautification Commission meets monthly, typically the second Wednesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. at the Civic Center and invites all residents of the City of Novi to offer their ideas for pollinator-friendly initiatives. The more people and organizations involved; the sooner pollinator declines will be reversed.

For more information about the City of Novi’s Bee City USA program, contact Katherine Oppermann at koppermann@cityofnovi.org