UW’s Biodiversity Institute to Host Bee Jubilee June 24

There are 700-plus species of bees in Wyoming that pollinate the state’s native plants and crops. The University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center will be all abuzz celebrating these important insects during the Bee Jubilee Saturday, June 24, from 10 a.m.-noon. The event is free and open to the public.

“There will be information about native, pollinator-friendly gardening; an activity to make a seed bomb with native seeds; pollinator specimens -- bees, beetles, butterflies, bats and hummingbirds -- and information about them,” says Mason Lee, senior project coordinator for the UW Biodiversity Institute. “Attendees will have a chance to make their own bee homes to take home and opportunities to meet real live insect pollinators up close in the ‘Berry Prairie’ garden.”

An art show, associated with the event, will be on display in the Berry Center lobby June 15-July 27. The show is open to all visual art -- drawings, photos, paintings and sculptures. Pollinator lovers, amateur and professional artists, and K-12 artists are encouraged to submit. Art submissions for the show will be accepted until Thursday, June 1. To submit artwork, email Lee at mlee37@uwyo.edu with a photo of the piece, title of work, size and medium, and an artist’s statement.

“Events are all happening simultaneously this year,” Lee says. “We’re just going to have the different tables/stations set up inside the lobby and outside the building, and folks can just come and go as they please.”

Bee Jubilee event partners are the UW Museum of Vertebrates, UW Extension, the Williams Conservatory, Laramie Garden Club, Laramie Audubon Society and UW graduate students -- from the Program in Ecology and Evolution, and the Department of Zoology and Physiology -- conducting pollinator research. 

For more information about the Bee Jubilee, call Lee at (307) 766-6240 or email mlee37@uwyo.edu.

About the UW Biodiversity Institute

The UW Biodiversity Institute fosters conservation of biodiversity through scientific discovery, creative dissemination, education and public engagement. In this setting, scientists, citizens, students and educators come together to share a wealth of perspectives on the study and appreciation of biodiversity -- from microbes to poetry and ecosystems to economics. Learn more at www.wyomingbiodiversity.org.