Honeybees helping to protect Dallas’ natural resources

Honeybees helping to protect Dallas’ natural resources

Dallas is committed to preserving the environment, and there’s a new set of helpers in town. Honeybees living in a new bee sanctuary provided by the Texas Honeybee Guild will set out to help grow the local ecosystem surrounding Dallas Zero Waste’s Eco Park.

Eco Park, a LEED Certified eco-friendly building located at 5215 Simpson Stuart Road, is dedicated to sharing the importance of living eco-friendly through a demonstration garden, composting, rain water collection and now, hosting a bee sanctuary. These important members of the ecosystem will be able to pollinate local plant life and produce local honey, without the threat of pesticides and common day to day traffic. Honey produced by bees at other sanctuaries is already being collected and sold at local Farmers Markets.

Bees are a major player in agriculture and food production. Plants can’t share pollen on their own, so honeybees get to move pollen from one plant to another. Watermelon, mangos, apples and berries all rely heavily on bees to grow. In fact, a third of all food produced in the United States is pollinated by honeybees. That’s estimated to be worth $15 billion in food every year. Having a special bee sanctuary in Dallas is very beneficial to the local ecosystem – bees can travel up to six miles to pollinate, and the sanctuary would give them a safe place to call home.

Dallas Zero Waste staff knew they were not equipped to build and manage a new sanctuary alone, so they recruited the Texas Honeybee Guild to help. The Honeybee Guild relocates bees from areas where they pose a threat to people, to safer locations where their hives won’t be destroyed. Eco Park is a perfect spot for a bee sanctuary – surrounded by the Trinity Forest with a small lake nearby, it’s far from homes and businesses.

It’s important for everyone in Dallas to do their part to help these hard workers.

“To support clean habitats, you can seed and plant native plants, flowering trees, edible landscapes, start or join a community garden, or even create a food forest,” said Texas Honey Bee Guild’s Susan Pollard. “Bee Aware that mosquito pesticides kill beneficial insects.”

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