Snowshoe Mountain Resort has several wildflower patches that were created for the Bee City USA designation the resort received in 2022. The patches are an effort to help local bees – including the endangered rusty patched bumblebee – thrive and pollinate the area.
Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Pollinators are essential in every ecosystem. They spread pollen that assists in plant reproduction, which in turns supports other species, including humans.
There are more than 3,600 native wild bee species in the United States, many of which are either on the endangered species list or are considered at-risk.
Bee City USA was founded in 2012 to help spread awareness about the importance of pollinators and help endangered species grow their ranks. Founder Phyllis Stiles made it her goal to create a program to help communities work together to reverse the decline of native pollinators.
By 2018, Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA became the initiatives of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. To date, there are 253 Bee City communities and an additional 221 college and university Bee Campuses.
Snowshoe became a Bee City in 2022.
“You apply with them and there’s a financial commitment to it, as well,” Snowshoe marketing director Shawn Cassell said. “We applied for some grants to help us. We started with our initial patch of a little over four acres at the airport. We tilled it up to plant a bunch of native wildflowers.”
Since then, Snowshoe has added several more wildflower patches – at both entrances to the resort and at the Forever Wild sign alongside Snowshoe Drive.
“You plant wildflowers but there are also several different parts to being a Bee City,” Cassell said. “We worked with the SRCD [Snowshoe Resort Community District] to put some standards in place for not using certain types of pesticides and herbicides that are really bad for pollinators.”
When the resort was planting the initial wildflower patch at Snowshoe, a special bee was discovered to be buzzing around there; one of the many on the endangered species list.
“We actually have, here in the Alleghenies and at Snowshoe, the rusty patched bumblebee,” Cassell said. “I think that kind of added some motivation, too. Now we’ve got a pretty special bee here. They do well in cooler climates and higher elevations. They are especially sensitive to pollution and pesticides.
“They say that particular bee is down to ten percent of its original population,” he continued. “We actually brought in a bee expert; he found one, and confirmed that we have them, so that was pretty exciting.”
As a Bee City, Snowshoe is dedicated to not only growing native wildflowers to help pollinators replenish, but also to spread awareness about pollinators to local communities and visitors to the resort town.
Each year, the resort hosts a pollinator event that coincides with a popular event that is sure to attract a large crowd. This way, while people are on the mountain, enjoying Blues, Brews and BBQs or Treasure on the Mountain, they can learn more about the Bee City designation and what they can do to help pollinators where they live.
“We have some vendors that come and set up,” Cassell said. “There are some people selling honey. Just some really fun stuff going on. We also ran hay wagon rides up to the airport so people could see the pollinator patch.”
Author Melissa Davey was also there to read to children from her book, “Rusty Bumble: A Bee’s Story.”
Snowshoe is one of four Bee Cities in West Virginia. Shepherdstown, Westover and Williamstown also hold the designation. West Virginia University is a Bee Campus USA.
To learn more about Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA, visit beecityusa.org
Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com
