Session Daily's article about Wednesday's meeting of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee only looks at one bill that was taken up, Shakopee DFLer Brad Tabke's HF207 bill funding the Lawns to legumes grant program. The full agenda included Chair Rick Hansen's HF206, which would examine the impacts of neonicotinoids on game species.
We've posted about both programs, though the wildly popular Lawns to Legumes is known internationally.
Readers may need some back story on the discovery of neo-nics in wild deer. Back in March 2019, we posted Study shows endocrine-disrupting imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, messes up does and fawns.
Later that year, in October, we posted South Dakota News Watch: study shows neonics a danger to deer, pheasant study results soon and South Dakota study on neonicotinoids' effects on whitetails prompts MNDNR deer spleen request. And in March 2021: Preliminary results from pesticide study show widespread neonic exposure in wild MN deer.
And our most recent post? See it in the Strib: the silence of Corn Growers about deer exposure to neonicotinoids.
Regardless of the story behind HF206, it's unfortunate that it wasn't included in the Session Daily coverage--nor any video from the hearing with the story below.
The video is worth watching to view the opposition on the part of some legislators to natural, pollinator-friendly plantings, while some of the questions about the neo-nics and game animal studies defy description. Watch it below the Session Daily story below.
House environment panel advances ‘Lawns to Legumes’ pollinator program
by Margaret StevensLegislators are seeking to continue a groundbreaking program to grow bee habitats.
Minnesota’s Lawns to Legumes program offers grants and technical assistance to establish pollinator-friendly native plants on residential lawns. The program helps landowners replace grass with plants such as honeysuckle, clover, thistle, sunflowers and goldenrods.
Small patches can provide big boosts to pollinators, Marla Spivak, Distinguished McKnight Professor at the University of Minnesota, told the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee Wednesday.
Sponsored by Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL-Shakopee), HF207 would appropriate $4 million from the General Fund in the next biennium to the Board of Water and Soil Resources for Lawns to Legumes.
The bill was approved as amended by the committee on a split voice vote and sent to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The first-in-the-nation program was started as a pilot in 2019 with money from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and has shown to be very popular.
“Minnesota is leading the nation in supporting pollinators,” Spivak said. “Other states want to emulate us -- especially Lawns to Legumes.”
Landowners can apply for grants of up to $350 to help establish the plants. There is a focus on areas known to have supported the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, Minnesota’s State Bee.
Outcomes of Lawns to Legumes since 2019 include more than 3.5 million square feet of pollinator habitat created, $900,000 in matching grants for individuals and 128 workshops attended by 5,745 people. Grants have been awarded in 86 of 87 counties.
About 12,000 of 18,000 individual grant applications can’t go forward without more funding.
Tabke presented Cornell University research that has shown bird populations plummeted, in part due to disruption of the food chain. He also shared pictures of native plants in neighborhoods. The aim, he said, is to dispel the notion that native plants are ugly.
“They really work well in a suburban setting,” he said, adding that the program comes with a lot of education.
But Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) isn’t convinced the education is sufficient for some people to get native plants established.
“Cities are rejecting it because instead of Lawns to Legumes, it’s lawns to weeds,” he said.
There's more of that in the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube of the hearing, which wasn't included in part or as a whole in the Session Daily post, which is unusual for coverage of a committee hearing.
Here's the video of the entire hearing from the Minnesota House Information Services channel. First, the agenda and time stamps:
01:17 - Overview of committee rules.
02:39 - Board of Water and Soil Resources overview.
42:06 - HF207 (Tabke) Lawns to legumes grant program funding provided, and money appropriated.
1:13:02 - HF206 (Hansen) Examination of neonicotinoid impacts on game species funding provided, and money appropriated.
Related posts:
- See it in the Strib: the silence of Corn Growers about deer exposure to neonicotinoids
- Preliminary results from pesticide study show widespread neonic exposure in wild MN deer.
- Study shows endocrine-disrupting imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, messes up does and fawns.
- South Dakota News Watch: study shows neonics a danger to deer, pheasant study results soon
- South Dakota study on neonicotinoids' effects on whitetails prompts MNDNR deer spleen request.
- Press Release: MN BWSR awards over 1000 Lawns to Legumes Individual Support grants
- Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding
- Minnesotans, your yard can BEE the change: BWSR taking Lawns to Legumes requests
- Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding
Map: Crop density in Minnesota. Via the DNR bulletin, Help us learn about pesticides in Minnesota deer.
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