As the city and greater metro area of Detroit adjusts to its new place in 21st-century America, it is helped along in the process by a few familiar faces– and by ‘few’, I mean several hundred thousand flying, buzzing, honey-suckling pollinators. Yes, I’m talking about bees. Bees have emerged as an unlikely source of happiness for a greater Detroit area that, in many ways, is still striving to make the transition from its role as the diesel-clogged heart of the nationwide automotive industry into something more sustainable. With the help of inspiring nonprofits like Bees In The D, a massive influx of Detroit beekeepers and bee hives are poised to help this city along with that transformation.

Amid "Pollinator Week," designated June 21-27, BITD announced that in the summer of 2022, Detroit's Core City will be home to a pollinator center and series of botanical gardens. The center and gardens will utilize the vacant lots in Core City, helping to rebuild the neighborhood.

“We love the central location,” Roest-Peterson says. “We love the natural vibe of the Core City area that is occurring there, and we actually already have some bees at a cut flower garden that's in Core City.” The pollinator center will house different plants and bees, providing exposure and education to the community.

When it comes to creating an appetizing backyard habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators, MSU Extension’s Senior Horticulture Educator Rebecca Finneran borrows an expression from the 1989 Kevin Costner classic, “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they will come.

“Habitat is habitat,” said Finneran. “It doesn’t have to be a pollinator garden. Our entire landscape can be a pollinator garden.”

Still, if you want to do your part to help the pollinators upon which our food chain relies, there are ways to do it and it’s about being thoughtful and intentional with what you plant. Use a mix of plants that bloom throughout the year, from spring to late fall, and steer clear of too much mulch and especially pesticides, experts say.

Bringing Michigan bee numbers back is going to take more than beekeepers and legislators, Milbrath said, especially if you want to see native bees, like bumblebees, long-horned bees and mason bees.

“It really does taking lots of people evaluating [their choices],” Milbrath said.

Bee enthusiasts and educators are going out to inform the public about the role that bees play in agriculture and the environment and how they can help.

As Peterson-Roest has learned, bees don’t only thrive in rural pastures and sprawling farmland. Instead, bees like biodiversity, meaning small, individual gardens can help give native bees the food they need.