By Jada Vasser
Bee City USA sign in downtown Detroit. Courtesy photo
Detroit resident Timothy Paule Jackson’s fascination with bees began in 2016 when he discovered the benefits of using honey to combat the common cold.
He began researching the components in honey that provide medicinal benefits for the immune system. Soon, he and his partner, Nicole Lindsay, enrolled in beekeeping classes.
They launched Detroit Hives was 2017 after the couple bought their first vacant lot in Detroit and set about keeping bees on the property.
As native Detroiters, they saw the potential in beekeeping to transform vacant and blighted lots and inject energy into underserved communities. Jackson and Lindsey co-direct the nonprofit organization, which is funded through donations and collaborations with other organizations.
“Our mission is to improve underserved communities for both people and pollinators,” Jackson said. “This organization is going to create a social, environmental and financial impact.”
Jackson said that no day at Detroit Hives is like any other.
“It’s really hard to predict a day-to-day agenda, especially during bee season,” Jackson said. “We could be responding to a swarm call or managing a lot of administrative work like responding to emails and being more hands-on with volunteers.”
With the support of a $5,000 City of Detroit climate implementation grant, Detroit Hives is expanding its work to use pollinator habitats to facilitate food security, activate abandoned areas and promote environmental justice for the city’s Black, low-income communities.
Bees aid in seed production, support biodiversity and maintain healthy soils that sequester carbon and enhance resilience to climate change. The project will also incorporate greenspaces to absorb stormwater runoff and fight flooding.
“Stormwater runoff is going into Detroit waterways,” Jackson said. “Part of this project is to create a surface where a percentage of the water will go into the ground.”
Jackson wants bees and Detroiters to thrive simultaneously. He says that requires conversations to educate people and help them change their mindsets about bees.
He said he hopes more residents will appreciate the role of bee farms in cleaning up the city.
He said that by providing food for the bees in planted gardens, residents can get pollinated crops in return.
Detroit Hives has 29 locations in Detroit and Southeast Michigan and is continuing to expand and grow.
Jackson said his organization is working with the city council to become a designated Bee City. To become a full-fledged bee city with Bee City USA, cities must have healthy pollinator locations for bees and pledge to protect the pollinators and their habitats.
Detroit is an affiliate, meaning it makes commitments on how to protect the bees and community members work together to implement these commitments to make the city better for the pollinators.
He said the designation supports “sustainability and conservation, going hand in hand with a lot of the green spaces we have and the solar projects coming into place.”
Detroit Hives also offers tours of mini gardens in the city and collaborates with local businesses and schools to teach the importance of bee pollination lifelong.
Jada Vasser has an environmental reporting internship under the MSU Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s diversity reporting partnership with GLISA/National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration. This story was produced for Planet Detroit.