Worker Bees for Bee City USA®

West Linn City Council unanimously voted March of 2019 to become a Bee City USA,  joining 79 other cities across the country united in improving their landscape for pollinators. The number of participating cities now exceeds one hundred.

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. Their 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, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others 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 designation comes with the following responsibilities:

•A subcommittee has been appointed and charged with assembling and disseminating information on the topics of pollinator-friendly habitat and policies to municipal departments, residents, businesses and developers.

•West Linn has publicly acknowledged the community’s commitment by agreeing to a) install/maintain a BEE CITY USA street sign in a prominent location, and b) create/maintain links on appropriate pages of the municipal website which includes the BEE CITY USA liaison(s), links to a PDF of the signed Resolution, and the BEE CITY USA website, and summarizes the pollinator-friendly activities the city has undertaken or accomplished the previous year(s).

•Commit to annually celebrate National Pollinator Week (third full week of June) or some other appropriate occasion through events, proclamations and promotions that showcase the municipalities commitment to being a
BEE CITY USA affiliate.

•Commit to annually apply for renewal of the community’s designation and submit a report of
BEE CITY USA activities.

With the guidance and support of the Xerces Society, OSU Master Gardeners, Mary S. Young Volunteers and the Blue Heron Chapter of National Charity League , the Mary S. Young Pollinator Garden was thoughtfully designed and planted to provide pollinator habitat and to serve as a demonstration area for home gardeners interested in landscaping with native plants. Please see the links below for resources on how you can create or enhance pollinator habitat at your home or place of work.   

The effort to support pollinators within the park system dates goes back to 2016 when concerns over the 90% decline of the Monarch Butterfly population gained the attention of the National Recreation and Parks Association. At that time Marylhurst Heights Park was selected as a Monarch Waystation and planted with milkweed. A meadow area, within the park, was selected because it receives full sunlight, it was bordered by an established variety of native trees and shrubs, and a wetland area. While the goal of the milkweed is to provide Monarchs and with the food to support their cycle of reproduction in the spring and summer and migration in the fall the pollinator area is also planted with a variety of nectar-rich flowering species with different bloom times to support all pollinators. Additionally, there is no use of chemical controls in the area immediate to the habitat area, instead this area is maintained by hand weeding. During the same time-frame an area at Mary S. Young Park was cleared of invasive species and planted with milkweed seed as an Eagle Scout candidate project. 

Both Cedaroak and Trillium Primary Schools have examples of well-planned pollinator gardens within the community.

The West Linn Parks and Recreation liaison is Tarra Wiencken, Recreation Supervisor.  For more information about how you can participate as a Bee City USA volunteer, call Tarra at 503-557-4700.