On Monday, we posted about the next round of Lawns to Legumes grants in BWSR accepting applications for Lawns to Legumes grants for Fall 2020 projects.
On Tuesday, PEW Trusts Stateline Blog Copy Editor/Fact Checker Ben Streeter reported in Bee Lawns Generate National Buzz:
Bees are excellent dancers. When a forager bee alights upon an Eden of pollen and nectar, it goes home to tell its hive mates. The greater the intensity of the dance, the richer the source of food being indicated.
In Minnesota, more bees are going to be dancing intensely this spring.
Researchers have found that homeowners who seed their lawns with a special grass mix can feed dozens of species of bees that would otherwise go hungry. So, beginning this spring, Minnesota will pay thousands of residents to plant “bee lawns” under a new state program that has attracted attention from other states. Each homeowner will get as much as $350 to do the work.
“A lot of people are watching this,” said Marla Spivak, the University of Minnesota entomologist who came up with the idea for bee lawns, a mix of traditional lawn grass and low-growing flowers.
The stakes are high: More than 1 in 3 bites of food taken in the United States depends on bees and other pollinators. But bee populations have been declining at unusually high rates in recent years.
According to the most recent data from the Bee Informed Partnership, a nonprofit based in College Park, Maryland, nearly 38% of managed honey bee colonies in the United States were lost in the winter of 2018-2019. This represents an increase of 7 percentage points above the previous year, and the highest loss recorded since the survey began in 2006.
Minnesota lawmakers last year put $900,000 toward the grant program and this year are weighing a bill to double that amount. Already 10 states have expressed interest in the program, including two states — Wisconsin and Washington — with legislative and agency proposals underway.
But critics say there isn’t enough evidence to justify spending so much.
“Minnesota is already the third- or fourth-highest-taxed state in the nation,” Republican state Sen. Mark Johnson told Stateline. Johnson has co-sponsored legislation that would cut funding for the program by close to $100,000. “What is the return on investment here? We’ve not seen evidence to say this is making an impact on bees.”
Bluestem posted about the Johnson bill back in February, in Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding.
Streeter continues:
Nevertheless, Minnesota policymakers say they have heard from officials in Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Virginia who are interested in bee lawn grants.
At least 28 states have enacted pollinator health laws in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Legislation generally addresses habitat protection, research, pesticides, beekeeping and public awareness. . . .
Read the rest at Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Relaled posts:
- BWSR accepting applications from MN residents, local orgs for Lawns to Legumes Grants
- O! my! Minnesota's #Lawns2Legumes makes Live Your Best Life list in Oprah Magazine
- Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding
- MN Corn Growers Association "watched" plan to list new state bee as endangered, part one
Map: From the Stateline story, Bee Lawns Generate National Buzz. All Stateline stories are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License ( CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0).
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