‘They’ve lost part of their identity’: Clark College removes more than half of its bee gardens

Clark College’s popular bee gardens are shrinking. The gardens, which previously could be found at a dozen locations along McLoughlin Boulevard and Fort Vancouver Way and near several buildings on the Vancouver campus, no longer feature brightly colored native flowers and plants.

“The biggest garden that was removed was along McLoughlin, on the north side of the road across from the Marshall Center,” said Steven Clark, a biology professor who leads the bee garden program.

Clark said the decision to no longer care for the gardens came in July after groundskeepers said they did not have the time and resources necessary to maintain them.

“The idea of cutting down the acreage seemed positive to them, and the bee campus went from something like just under 3 acres to just over 1 acre,” Clark