We live in changing times. Last year, we posted about the North Mankato Lawn Wars (see related posts below), in which the southern Minnesota city unsuccessfully clamped down on a senior couple's natural lawn.
Thus, it's one of the more positive changes to read this headline in the Mankato Free Press, North Mankato joins No Mow May, nearly 600 sign up in Mankato. Mark Fischenich reports:
“No Mow May” has come to North Mankato, which passed the monthlong moratorium on long-grass penalties a week after Mankato joined the movement.
It’s a growing trend in the Upper Midwest, aimed at giving bees and other pollinators a boost as they become active for the season.
“No Mow May” is permissive, not mandatory. Residents can still mow as much as they like. They just don’t have to — as long as they register their participation in the program.
“We can see who’s doing what and kind of tracking the popularity of the program,” North Mankato Mayor Mark Dehen said of the registration requirement.
The popularity appears to be strong. In North Mankato, online registration at www.northmankato.com/no-mow-may went live Tuesday morning.
“We are up to 38 residents who have signed up for ‘No Mow May,’” said Anna Brown, the city’s public information officer, shortly before city offices closed Tuesday afternoon. . . .
In Mankato, citations can normally be issued when grass reaches 12 inches or goes to seed. In North Mankato, the limit is half of that — 6 inches.
“Noxious weeds will still need to be eradicated,” North Mankato warned in a news release. “Properties must come back into compliance in June following the end of the program.”
“No Mow May” originated in the United Kingdom — the theory being that allowing dandelions and other flowering weeds to grow in May provides bees an easily available snack at a time when other options are limited.
“No Mow May” originated in the United Kingdom — the theory being that allowing dandelions and other flowering weeds to grow in May provides bees an easily available snack at a time when other options are limited.
The program was first brought to the Upper Midwest by cities in Wisconsin, but the buzz has been growing in Minnesota. Dehen said it was natural for North Mankato to join the effort to assist pollinators, which play a critical role in the ecosystem but have been declining in number.
“It continues our work on prairie restoration that we’ve done in Bluff and Benson parks and now in front of City Hall here and in the natural lawn ordinance we passed last year,” he said. . . .
We'll know the "No Mow Movement" is normalized when our local town board allows citizens to participate, but we're not holding our breath on that. Even though the South Dakota Extension Service posted Why Those Dandelions in Your Yard Aren’t So Bad back in 2020. Our early pollinator visitors seem to prefer creeping charlie and white clover, but also snack on the yellow flowers.
Related posts:
- North Mankato lawn wars: Kicking up compassion and kicking its own citizens
- North Mankato lawn wars: Free Press publishes moving portrait of post-victory Ed Borchardt
- City of North Mankato takes care of its buckthorn problem in the worst possible way
- North Mankato lawn wars: MN Court of Appeals opinion reverses city resolution against natural lawn as unsupported by the record
- North Mankato lawn wars: resident maps buckthorn in Bluff Park, citizens badger council
- Another dispatch from North Mankato lawn wars: City removes buckthorn in Spring Lake Park
- North Mankato lawn wars: local man cuts lawn buckthorn suckers, sees buckthorn in city park
- Mankato Free Press: Borchardts' North Mankato lawn war case heard in Minnesota appeals court
- North Mankato lawn wars: City Council passes natural yards ordinance limiting pollinator habitat
- North Mankato natural lawn fight update: Borchardt sues city for public nuisance order
- Buzz kill: North Mankato Planning Commission not so much into lawns to legumes
- North Mankato declares “Monarch Wayfair” lawn a public nuisance from “infestation of the premises by plants, animals, and birds”
- Strib picks up North Mankato lawn police story
Photo: White clover, treated as a weed by some homeowners, is attractive to pollinators if not mowed.
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