Luther College is being recognized as a "Bee Campus USA" affiliate

A black and gold bumble bee (Bombus auricomus) spotted at one of Luther's planted tallgrass prairies.

Luther College is one of only two educational institutions in Iowa and one of only 102 institutions in the nation to be officially certified as a Bee Campus USA affiliate.  This week is National Pollinator Week.

"Luther College has a long history of practicing joyful stewardship of the resources that surround us, which can be seen particularly in the care of our extensive natural areas," says Luther College biology professor Kirk Larsen. "Over the past 20 years many of the landscape plantings on the central campus have been converted from non-native plants to native plants and the college has planted about 120 acres of diverse tallgrass prairie," said Larsen. "The mix of prairie and woodlands in Luther's natural areas make our campus an ideal home for pollinators, specifically the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee, which has been found on campus." Larsen also points out the spraying of herbicides has been dramatically reduced on campus.

This summer, Larsen is working with two research students, Abby Miller and Kayla Gibson, to study pollinator populations on and off campus. The project is aimed at helping Luther College determine a baseline of what butterflies and bumble bees there are on campus.