2021 Bee Project

Have you heard the buzz? Cherry Hills Land Preserve is championing our community’s small but mighty members, the bees!

2021 Bee Project

Announcing the 2021 Bee Project:

Some of Cherry Hills Village (CHV) smallest residents are also some of its most essential and unfortunately some of the most at risk.  Cherry Hills Land Preserve (CHLP) is partnering with People and Pollinators Action Network, University of Denver, and other like-minded organizations on a pilot study to collect, collate, and ultimately share the results of actions, both large and small, across the community. We will be monitoring both public and private land to realize the overall health and population numbers of native bee species with the goal of increasing the population over time.

This initial work is part of 10+ year initiative that will put CHV at the forefront of efforts to create and protect pollinator’s paradises in the communities within the Greater Denver Metro Area, the Front Range, and beyond.

Why Bees?

Did you know there are over 900+ native, non-honey, bee species in Colorado alone? Bees are a key indicator species and these hidden helpers help us assess the overall health of our ecosystem. Think of them as akin to the canary in the mine—except when the buzzing stops it doesn’t matter if you make it to the open air—where the bees go our ecosystem follows.

Without pollinators, it’s not just honey that will be in short supply it’s not even just the local vegetation and landscapes that would be at risk. These are not small stakes. If the bees go, a vital and irreplaceable link in our food supply would be irrevocably lost.

We, as a community, have an opportunity to make changes, small and large, during the 2021 Bee Project to contribute to a baseline study sponsored by CHLP.  The Bee Project will positively benefit the CHV ecosystem that supports and sustains us all. The data and results that this study will yield are set to serve as an example to other communities across Colorado, the West, the US, and beyond as they look to create a pollinator's paradise of their own.

Collaborating with researchers, students and the community, we will track the bee population as we work collectively to increase the available habitat and food resources in the CHV community. The results of this study will also offer a roadmap for other communities for demonstrable results in stabilizing, restoring, and protecting native pollinator populations and the ecosystems they support.

The land we live on is the backdrop for our lives and for many of us the open spaces and sprawling expanses of CHV are a large part of why we choose to live here. This land is important, and bees are essential if we are to preserve and protect this landscape we hold so dear.

Like a beehive, we’re all in this together! Any contribution over the course of this study and beyond is a contribution to the whole. We look forward to working with all levels of contributors, volunteers and donors. It will take a village to save the bees. We are proud that the village in question is ours.

The CHLP Bee Project & Baseline Study

CHLP is committed to providing, protecting, and restoring native habitats and food sources that are essential for the survival of these essential, and often unseen, workers.

Beginning with this initial study, the goal of CHLP is to raise funds, awareness, and community involvement in initiatives (be they small-scale or property-wide) that will benefit the bee community (and in turn, the greater Cherry Hills Village community as well).

Come see what all the Buzz is about!

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