Goat Hill Beekeeping Program

University of Michigan’s Conservation and Restoration team, Bees and Golf: An Unlikely yet Impactful Partnership, is working with Greener Golf and Goat Hill Park’s pollinator program to design an 8,500 sq ft pollinator garden located at Goat Hill’s 12th hole. Their goal is to curate a garden that provides visiting pollinators and the existing apiary with an abundance of flowering plants, create a featured garden planting with year-round visual-interest for Goat Hill’s community, and set a precedent for golf courses everywhere to adopt pollinator-friendly practices.

At Goat Hill Park, golfers aren’t the only species enjoying the golf course landscape. "The Goat" has a thriving apiary in order to protect their pollinator friends and keep golfers safe. Several wild colonies of honeybees were removed from unwanted locations on the course (irrigation boxes and old squirrel dens) and placed in an apiary above the 12th hole where they are managed safely. The apiary provides protection from ants and other pests (and golfers as well). Additionally, the team at Goat Hill has converted several acres of the property to pollinator-friendly native flower meadows to provide forage for the bees. Honeybees are an indicator species, meaning healthy bees in an area indicate a healthy environment, so beekeeping is a great short-hand way of describing the sustainability and environmental stewardship of a golf course. With thriving bees, comes the occasional sharing of honey that they produce, a wonderful gift from a mutually beneficial interspecies collaboration.

It is critically important to support pollinators as we are facing a potential collapse of our agricultural system. 1 of 3 bites of food we eat relies on the pollination services of bees and other pollinators. Bees are threatened by loss of habitat, chemical exposure, vulnerability to mites, and a number of other things and utilizing golf course spaces to support bees is an easy way to alleviate the stress bees are experiencing.

Funds generated through this gofundme are used to cover the expenses for the Goat Hill Beekeeping Program so that the program can continue as a valuable part of the Goat Hill operation supporting bees and the sustainability mission of Goat Hill Park.

You can also support bees by:

- Planting flowers

- Eating organic foods

- Eliminating the use of neonicotinoid chemicals (like Roundup)

- Buying honey from local beekeepers

- Asking your golf course to support bees

Click HERE for more information on how bees and golf can coexist and create mutual benefit.

Thank you for your contribution and support bees.

(Parker Anderson, Greener Golf)