From a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources press release:
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen today unveiled the design of Minnesota’s newest critical habitat license plate, featuring native pollinators including a bee and butterflies. The new license plate is available now online and at deputy registrar and driver’s license offices statewide.
“Many Minnesotans share a commitment to maintaining healthy populations of bees, butterflies and other native pollinators,” Strommen said. “This beautiful new critical habitat license plate is an opportunity to show your support for pollinators while providing important funding to preserve habitats.”
There is no need to wait for current license plate tabs to expire, as the license fee is prorated when a critical habitat license plate is purchased.
The $30 annual contribution to the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Critical Habitat Program helps to preserve important wildlife habitat and plant communities such as wetlands, prairies, old growth forests and endangered orchid sites. Contributions over $30 go toward buying and managing important natural habitats, which are preserved as public lands. These lands are open to compatible public use, like hunting, hiking and wildlife watching.
The winning license plate design by artist Timothy Turenne depicts the monarch butterfly, Minnesota’s state butterfly, and rusty patched bumble bee, recently designated as the state bee.
In addition to purchasing the new license plate, Minnesotans can take other steps to help pollinators:
- Grow milkweed, the monarch host plant, and other native flowers to provide nectar resources.
- Provide open ground and unmown roadsides as appropriate.
- Reduce pesticide use.
The DNR supports native pollinators by restoring and managing the ecosystems and plant communities they rely on for food. For example, restoration and management activities on DNR-administered lands provide approximately 1.1 million acres of habitat in the northern conservation core for monarch butterflies. The DNR continues implementation of Gov. Tim Walz’s 2019 Pollinator Executive Order through participation in the Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy and other proactive and durable pollinator conservation measures.
More information about Minnesota’s pollinators is available on the DNR website.
More information about Minnesota’s Critical Habitat License Plates is available on the DNR’s critical habitat page.
At the Duluth News Tribune, John Myers has more in Minnesota pollinator plates finally available:
Better late than never, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Thursday unveiled its latest critical habitat license plate for vehicles, the new design emblazoned with pollinators.
The pollinator plates were originally proposed in 2017. But the same state computer system malfunctions that caused Minnesota driver's license backups — the Minnesota License and Registration System — also delayed the new license plates, DNR officials said. The $73 million failed computer system couldn’t produce the new, six-number plates.
MNLARS has since been replaced and the new plates are now available wherever residents renew their plates or tabs, online or in person.
The winning license plate design by artist Timothy Turenne depicts the state butterfly — the monarch — and rusty patched bumblebee, recently designated as the state bee. Pollinators, including the two species featured on the license plate, been generally declining across the U.S. due to habitat loss and likely issues with pesticides.
Vehicle owners who want the new plates pay an extra fee of $30 per year with the money going to critical habitat acquisition projects through the Reinvest in Minnesota program. In 2019, the plates generated $5.3 million to help buy and manage critical habitats for all types of species.
The new pollinator plates join a host of others on Minnesota vehicles that help wildlife, including chickadees, loons, moose and lady's slipper flowers. The state also offers habitat plates for deer hunters, turkey hunters, pheasant hunters, anglers and state park fans.
Related posts:
- More MNLARS debacle fallout: DNR's pollinator critical habitat license plate on hold
- Vote for new pollinator critical habitat license plate; online poll closes Tues. Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.
Photo: Minnesota's newest critical habitat license plate depicts a bee and butterflies. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota DNR via Duluth News Tribune)
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