APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An Appleton committee has rejected a resolution to end “No Mow May.” But that doesn’t mean the matter is over.
The city of Appleton will consider eliminating No Mow May. Currently, residents are not required to cut their grass during the month of May for the purpose of helping the bee population to thrive.
The initiative became a permanent city ordinance in 2022. Now, there is some debate over No Mow May’s effectiveness.
A proposed resolution would again require those in the city to keep their grass at eight inches or less — the same as every other month.
“The majority of this is all about education and sort of telling people how important bees are, and I don’t think anyone disagrees with that,” Appleton Alderperson Chad Doran said. “They’re an important part of our ecosystem. But what we also have is an ordinance that there’s no scientific data to support now.”
Doran is suggesting eliminating No Mow May because the study that originally supported the idea has since been retracted.
But many argue the success of No Mow May warrants keeping it.
“When you don’t mow your lawn with high intensity and high frequency, bee populations tend to be more abundant in that space,” Appleton Alderperson Israel Del Toro said. “I think we combat misinformation with data availability and data transparency, and today, the system worked.”
Del Toro is also a biology professor at Lawrence University and authored the original study. He shared an explanation of the retraction to the city’s municipal services committee on Monday.
“We couldn’t agree on the identification of some species that were collected in that 2020 paper. So, what we did is, we went back 2021, collected more specimens. What we actually bring to the table is data, facts and scientific review.”
Doran said he still hasn’t been shown information to suggest No Mow May is the most effective way to help bees and wants to promote other methods instead.
“There are benefits to having more flowers and having more gardens that are pollinator friendly. But there’s nothing that shows that growing your grass from eight inches tall to 12 inches tall makes any difference whatsoever for pollinators.”
The committee voted four to one to recommend the full council deny the resolution and keep No Mow May.
The full common council will take a vote at a future meeting.
