By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
A Wausau committee this week will consider alternatives to the city’s annual ‘No Mow May’ initiative, which allows residents to avoid fines if they let grasses grow throughout the month.
Started in 2019 by citizen scientists in Europe, the call for homeowners to abstain from mowing their lawns during the month spread to other countries, including the U.S., and to cities across Wisconsin.
The program launched in 2021 in Wausau. The idea is to help encourage survival for bees and other pollinators that rely on flowering plants that provide food early in the growing season. Participation is voluntary, and has seen mixed reaction from residents.
Proponents say the long grasses are a small price to pay to help bees and other pollinators thrive, but critics bemoan the unkempt yards spotting Wausau neighborhoods and question whether there is any scientific basis for such programs.
Tamson Yeh, turf specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County in New York, said No Mow May is a “terrible idea.”
“It’s such a nice slogan, but letting the grass grow high and allowing it to do its thing, and then suddenly mowing it back is really counterproductive.”
Yeh sees the movement as a “feel-good, stop-gap measure, because if you want to have an impact, you need to establish a permanent cover for insects,” not merely temporary housing.
“Bees tell each other where the food is, and pollinators (when they discover an unmown lawn) will remember to come back to it again and again,” Yeh said. “Then on June 1st, when the food disappears, it’s not good for them.”
Yeh said an all-or-nothing approach would be better. If you really want to make a difference, consider replacing the entire lawn, or part of it, with native plants or planting a wildflower meadow. Both will provide permanency for birds and pollinators while shrinking or eliminating the lawn, which has no redeeming value aside from subjective aesthetics, anyway.
When planting for beneficial insects, Yeh advises creating a corridor or path of pollen- and nectar-rich plants for migratory pollinators to travel along instead of spacing plants far apart.
Postponing fall cleanup until spring, which spawned another movement called #LeaveTheLeaves, will create safe havens for pollinators to lay their eggs and hibernate within. To allow time for them to emerge from dormancy, wait until after spring temperatures have remained above 50 degrees for an entire week before clearing away last season’s plant debris.
The Sustainability, Energy and Environment Committee will meet at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 6 at City Hall, 407 Grant St., Wausau. See the full agenda and participation information here.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
