Bee Habitat Project: NYC Department of Transportation, New York Horticultural Society and Rutgers Partner to Create Safe Spaces for Bees
NEW YORK (WABC) — If you see bees nesting in certain public squares and open streets around the city in the future, know that that is their “hotel” or “bunker.”
Those hotels and bunkers come courtesy of an initiative, the Pollinator Harbor Project, announced Thursday between the city Department of Transportation, the Horticultural Society and Rutgers University to create habitats for native bees. Vegetation will also be planted to provide food for bees and other pollinators.
“Our open streets and public squares have always been bustling with activity, but this year they will be the highlight,” New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a press release. “Bees are essential to the health of our planet and this initiative will create habitats for at-risk native bee populations and help facilitate important scientific research.”
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, bees have fewer habitats in urban areas and often have long distances between green spaces in cities.
“Only one of the approximately 100 species of native bees that call New York City home can live in a hive; all the others have to find their own places to raise their young,” said bee scientist Kim Russell. from Rutgers University.
The streets of the five boroughs represent approximately 27% of the land, so locating the hotels and bunkers in public squares and open streets like this is a good use of space.
“They can come in and lay their eggs and rest, but they can come and go,” said Sarah Hobel of the New York Horticultural Society. “They also need green to thrive, they need habitat throughout the city and to pollinate all the plants we need as people.”
“Once we’re clear about it and we think it’s working, we can make these designs publicly available and communities and schools can create them themselves,” Russell added.
Bee hotels and bunkers were also tested at Parkside Plaza in Brooklyn and Fordham Plaza in the Bronx in 2023.
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