This column, which ran in the Duluth News Tribune, is reprinted with the permission of Representative Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul.
Even the town board in our home in tiny Summit, South Dakota, allowed residents to observe "No Mow May" this year, so pollinator protection continues to gain ground in the popular vision of a healthy America. Sadly, I haven't seen any monarchs yet on my milkweed patch, which is starting to bloom.
Local View: Minnesota making progress in protecting pollinators
By Opinion by Rep. Rick Hansen and Mason Sargent
It’s Pollinator Week (June 19-25), a time to honor the key role pollinators play in our ecosystem while also recognizing and addressing the threats they currently face — many of which are human-caused.
Many of Minnesota’s pollinators — including our state bee, the rusty patched bumblebee — have suffered population declines in recent decades. The populations of seven of 24 species of local bumblebees are the subject of concern among researchers.
“There’s some species that are doing OK, and a lot that aren’t,” said Elaine Evans, a professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota Bee Research Lab.
Beyond just bees, there are species of butterflies, beetles, and many other types of pollinator insects that have been harmed by insecticide use, the loss of habitat, and our changing climate.
Despite the daunting scope of these problems, there are measures that can be taken, both at the governmental and individual levels.
This year, ahead of Pollinator Week, the Minnesota Legislature passed several new laws to take great strides to combat the population decline in our local pollinators. Funding for research to develop conservation strategies, establishing a breeding population of the Karner blue butterfly, and restricting the use of harmful pesticides were included in the Legislature’s final environmental budget bill. The Legislature also restricted the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on state lands.
“These can be harmful to bees, particularly our wild, solitary bees.” Marla Spivak, a professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota, explained.
Runoff from insecticides can be harmful to aquatic insects, amphibians, and birds as well. Lawmakers also modified the requirements for pollinator-friendly labeling on plants, ensuring homeowners are not inadvertently purchasing contaminated plants, thinking them safe for pollinators.
Habitat restoration can help these struggling species make a recovery. Creating areas for native prairie plants to grow gives pollinators additional sources of food and shelter, which can help to bolster a waning population.
“Pollinators respond quickly to changes in habitat,” Evans said. “There are many different stressors, but habitat helps to alleviate all of them.”
To this end, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have received funding to plant native, pollinator-friendly plants along highways and at closed landfill sites.
There are also opportunities for individual Minnesotans to help, for example the Board of Water and Soil Resources’ popular Lawns to Legumes initiative for planting pollinator-friendly plants at your own home. The program, which received additional funding this year, has helpful planting guides and resources to help anyone convert their landscaping into a habitat for pollinators.
“Everyone can put in pollinator habitats at their houses,” Spivak said of the Lawns to Legumes program. To anyone considering taking advantage of the cost-sharing grant, she suggested planting a variety of plants that flower at different points throughout the growing season, not to contaminate the flowers with pesticides, and to leave stems and the ground alone to create nesting sites for pollinators.
There are all sorts of benefits to planting pollinator-friendly plants. They provide habitat for wide ranges of insects and birds, and they nourish the soil and prevent erosion. Native prairie plants with deep root systems are also a durable form of carbon sequestration.
“It’s bees, but it’s also water and soil and climate and carbon,” Spivak said. “If you protect bees and butterflies, you’re actually doing a lot more for the climate and the planet.”
Granted, habitat protection is not the be-all and end-all of the efforts to take care of our local pollinators. There also needs to be large-scale efforts to address climate change, pollution, and the amount of insecticide we rely on to produce the food we eat. If progress is not made in all of these areas, the benefits of the efforts that have been made will be substantially undercut.
This year, the Minnesota Legislature made historic progress in addressing each of these issues, but continued support from Minnesotans is necessary for the long road ahead.
Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, is chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Mason Sargent is a Juris Doctor student at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
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Photo: A rusty-patched bumble bee, Minnesota's state bee.
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