A Portland-based environmental group dedicated to protecting bees, butterflies and pollinators announced this week that it had given Eugene a Bee City USA designation. Eugene was the 71st city to get the honor from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

“We should be proud to live in a city that works to protect and support bees,” said Krystal Abrams, of Beyond Toxics, an environmental group that helped the city get the designation.

An international decline in bee populations has environmentalists worried. Five years ago Beyond Toxics and beekeepers urged Eugene to stop using a neonicotinoid pesticide — suspected of killing honeybees — on downtown flowers and Laurelwood Golf Course. The city stopped using the pesticide in 2014.

Abrams said Eugene also received the honor because it has 10 parks where herbicides are not used.

Under the 35-year-old policy, the city is supposed to try to control troublesome plants and pests without herbicides or insecticides. If those methods don’t work, low-toxicity pesticides can be used.

Abrams said the city has helped raise awareness about protecting bees. Some local garden stores stopped selling neonicotinoids after the city’s decision to ban use on city property, she said.

To get the designation, the City Council passed a resolution saying, in part, the city will “support and encourage pollinator habitat creation and enhancement on both public and private land.” The resolution was approved July 23.

The resolution requires the city to have a bee celebration event each year, preferably in the summer.