GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids Community College is partnering with a local club to help boost pollinators and provide a new learning opportunity for its students. The school has opened a new apiary at the Leslie E. Tassell MTEC campus.
The campus apiary is led by Audrey Heckwolf, a professor with the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education and bee hobbyist.
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“The opportunity for this project is really exciting,” Heckwolf said in a news release. “We’re partnering with the Grand Rapids Area Bee Club and hope to begin hosting the club meetings on the GRCC campus in the future.
“By bringing the meetings to campus, we open up accessibility to everyone while also providing a place for continued education about our pollinators. We want to strengthen our connection to the natural world.”
It’s a new opportunity for GRCC but also could be a vital step for local honeybees. Experts say several factors have decimated the honeybee population in the U.S. Parasites and diseases have become a growing factor for American bees, but pesticide use, climate change and “monoculture agriculture” are also problems…