[Pollinator] Denver -- Bee Safer Neighborhoods proclamation

[ivmpartnersG]

An easy growth of pollinator friendly habitat is for the city to exempt grass height ordinance mowing if the property owner or utility manages the land using integrated vegetation management techniques.

Rick Johnstone

On Oct 21, 2014, at 12:03 PM, Matthew Shepherd <mdshepherd at xerces.org> wrote:

> Yesterday (Monday), the City and County of Denver passed a proclamation encouraging the creation of bee-safe neighborhoods. The proclamation recognizes the threats to bees (and other pollinators) from habitat destruction, insecticide use, etc., and encourages local residents to band together to make their neighborhood safer for bees, as well as directing city/county departments to consider habitat creation in their daily work and in future rule making.
>  
> The text of the proclamation is pasted in below and a PDF is attached.
>  
> This proclamation is the result of the hard work of the Living Systems Institute and Honeybee Keep, with the support of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, Friends of the Earth, PANNA, and Beyond Toxics.
>  
> Matthew
>  
> ________
>  
> PROCLAMATION
> City and County of Denver
> Encouraging the Establishment of Bee Safe Neighborhoods
>  
> WHEREAS, over the past few decades, there has been a significant loss of pollinatores, including honey bees, native bees, birds and butterflies, creating a serious problem that threatens the sustainability of our food system and the overall health of our environment.
>  
> WHEREAS, recent years have seen the decline of pollinator populations due to a complex set of circumstances including loss of habitat due to modern farming practices and the prevalence of systemic poisons, including the neonicotinoids, that become a part of the plant including the pollen and nectar on which pollinators depend, and
>  
> WHEREAS, the plight of the bees has recently received both media attention, such as the cover story of the August 2013 issue of Time magazine, and political attention, such as the President's June 20, 2014 memorandum Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.
>  
> WHEREAS, preserving healthy populations of pollinators and the genetic diversity of pollinators is necessary to preserve the capacity of the ecosystem to recover from loss of habitat and toxins in the environment when better alternatives are developed, and
>  
> WHEREAS, urban and suburban residential properties hold the potential to host a habitat for whole ecosystems without use of toxic substances thereby preserving genetic diversity and healthy populations of pollinators and other species, and
>  
> WHEREAS, Living Systems Institute and Honeybee Keep, two organizations working with bees and habitat in the Denver Metro area, have established a program to help neighborhoods become bee safe and provide recognition for those neighborhoods who do create a bee safe neighborhood (http://livingsystemsinst.org/content/bee-safe-neighborhoods), and
>  
> WHEREAS, two neighborhoods in Boulder, Colorado and one neighborhood in Wheat Ridge, Colorado have already demonstrated the feasibility of neighbors coming together to improve their habitat (http://livingsystemsinst.org/content/bee-safe-honor-roll), and
>  
> WHEREAS, pollinators and humans both benefit from a toxin free habitat with many flowering and fruiting plants, and a full range of species including the predators of those species generally considered pests, and
>  
> WHEREAS, the more properties in a area participating in the development of a non-toxic diverse habitat the more effective will be the effort to preserve genetic diversity of healthy populations of pollinators and other species,
>  
> NOW THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER:
>  
> Section 1: That the City Council urges the citizens of this great city to consider the needs of pollinators in their decisions regarding the landscaping of their properties and the use of toxins on their properties, including the elimination of systemic toxins that become a part of the plant, including the pollen and nectar on which pollinators rely.
>  
> Section 2: That the City Council encourages its citizens to work with their neighbors in this endeavor so as to create larger more diverse and toxin free habitats in order to facilitate the preservation of genetic diversity and healthy populations of pollinators and other species.
>  
> Section 3: That the City Council directs the departments of this city that impact the use of residential properties to take into account the policy of creating a diverse habitat when writing rules and fulfilling their duties.
>  
> Section 4: That the Clerk of the City and County of Denver shall attest and affix the seal of the City and County of Denver to this proclamation and that copies be transmitted to the Office of Sustainability, Public Works, and Environmental Health for their continued partnership in conservation and sustainability efforts.
> <Denver_BeeSafeNeighborhoods_oct2014.pdf>
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