Homeowners in Minnesota can benefit financially if they grow a bee-friendly lawn. The goal is to help the state’s declining bee population.
State lawmakers have approved a new program that will set aside $900,000 annually to pay homeowners who replace traditional lawns with bee-friendly lawns of which include wildflowers, clover, and native grasses. The program would cover up to 75% of the cost for homeowners who convert their lawns and up to 90% in areas that are targeted as “high potential” to support rusty patched bumblebees.
The wildflowers and native grasses will benefit all species of bees, but the main goal is that they will attract and help specifically the rusty patched bumblebees. These rusty patched bumblebees pollinate tomatoes, apples and much more. Once abundant across a wide area of North America, the bee species (Bombus affinis) was formally listed as endangered in March 2017. They have suffered an 87% decline in population since the mid-1990s due to climate change, pesticide exposure, habitat loss, population fragmentation and diseases transmitted from infected commercial domesticated honeybees.
James Wolfin, a graduate student who works at the University of Minnesota’s Bee Lab, said:
When people look at these flowers, they see a nuisance, they see a weed. I see a forage for pollinators. One third of every bite you eat is due to a pollinator pollinating that plant.
Bee experts recommend that we start rethinking what a perfect lawn is, starting with the length of our grass. Longer cut grass is better than shorter grass.
He insists that a bee-friendly yard is not at all a threat. Wolfin added:
In the three years I have been doing this research, I have only been stung two times. And one of these times a bumblebee got caught between the tongue of my shoe and my foot, so I really don’t blame her.
How Can You Help?
Minnesota State Rep. Kelly Morrison, who introduced the bill in the House, said she hopes the program will be ready by the springtime of 2020. The state has not released details yet about how residents will be able to apply for consideration.
In the meantime, where ever you live in the world even if it’s not Minnesota, you can make your yard more attractive to bees by not using a chemical lawn service, growing lots of different flowering plants native to the area. You can also leave a few areas of bare soil for the bees to nest.
However, If you are not allowed to grow clover and wildflowers all over your lawn because of homeowner associations or other reasons, at least sneak in a small corner somewhere with tall grass, sticks, wildflowers, and general organic chaos. The bees will be very happy and should move straight in.
