From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Neighbors Fight Over No Mow May: ‘What in the World Is Happening in This   
   Place?’   
   By James R. Hagerty, April 28, 2023, WSJ   
   As May 1 looms, Americans face a complicated moral choice: Whether to mow   
   their lawns.   
      
   Scores of U.S. cities and towns are embracing a British movement called No Mow   
   May, whose supporters refrain from cutting their grass during that month. The   
   goal is to allow more flowering plants to thrive, and provide nectar and   
   pollen to nourish bees    
   and other pollinators, vital parts of the food chain.   
      
   No Mow May has been promoted by the British charity Plantlife over the past   
   four years and is gaining ground in other countries. The project stirs warm   
   and buzzy feelings in many homeowners’ hearts. “Pardon the weeds! We’re   
   feeding the bees!”    
   declare cheerful signs popping up in meadow-like yards.    
      
   Yet No Mow May puts bees in the bonnets of other people. Opponents question   
   the science behind No Mow May, deplore what they see as a sloppy look and even   
   suggest it’s just an excuse for laziness.   
      
   It’s the ultimate grass-roots issue. “Even lawns have become politicized   
   these days,” said  Israel Del Toro, a member of the city council in   
   Appleton, Wis., who supports No Mow May.    
      
   Sheri Hartzheim, another member of that council, opposes No Mow May and wants   
   Appleton authorities to enforce an ordinance requiring grass to be cut to no   
   more than 8 inches. She abhors the “shaggy raggy” appearance of some   
   lawns. “Visitors will    
   see us in May and wonder, ‘What in the world is happening in this   
   place?’” she said.   
      
   In St. Peter MN., last year’s No Mow May led to sightings of more   
   woodchucks, raccoons and snakes, said the city administrator, Todd Prafke.   
   Some people, startled by those snakes in the grass, call the police to report   
   them.   
      
   Doug Tallamy, a Univ. of Delaware professor who has a Ph.D. in entomology,   
   sympathizes with the sentiments behind No Mow May. He describes the typical   
   American lawn as an “ecological dead zone” and has called for turning half   
   of all lawns on private    
   property in the U.S.  into natural havens for bees, other insects and animals.   
      
   Dr. Tallamy sees little logic in letting lawns grow longer for a few weeks. If   
   people simply let their grass grow for a month and then revert to a clipped   
   green monoculture, they are teasing pollinators with short-term snacks   
   followed by starvation, he    
   said. A nonprofit he co-founded, Homegrown National Park, urges homeowners to   
   reduce space devoted to regularly clipped grass, add native plants and remove   
   invasive ones.    
      
   “What I’m talking about works,” said Dr. Tallamy, who reports having   
   found 1,199 species of moths on his 10-acre property. He has been delighted to   
   encounter predatory stink bugs, horrid zale moths and spun glass caterpillars.   
      
   Those who follow Dr. Tallamy’s advice risk blowback, however.   
      
   Frank Swift, a retired lawyer in Jacksonville, Ark., turned over half of his   
   5-acre property into a natural habitat. Most of his neighbors, he said, “not   
   only don’t object but they send their kids over to fish in my pond and   
   collect bugs in my meadow.   
   ” One neighbor publicly objected, however, and Mr. Swift began receiving   
   citations from the city, ordering him to mow.   
      
   Mr. Swift hired a lawyer and fought back. In October, a county judge ruled   
   that the city’s lawn ordinance didn’t apply to his cultivated meadow.   
      
   A year ago, Jack Trimper let the grass grow around his home in Arbutus MD, to   
   avoid disturbing buttercups and clover. “I don’t like to cut anything that   
   has food for bees,” said the retired teacher, now an artist and poet. “My   
   neighbor didn’t    
   like the idea, put in a complaint and then life got real complicated.”   
      
   Baltimore County threatened to fine him $100. A lawyer, Carl R. Gold,   
   volunteered to help. Mr. Gold argued that the county’s height limit on grass   
   conflicted with a state law barring “unreasonable limitations” on   
   environmentally friendly    
   landscaping. After May, Mr. Trimper trimmed his lawn. The county dismissed its   
   charges against him.   
      
   LeighAnn Ferrara’s yard in White Plains, N.Y., is a mosaic of aster, native   
   roses, blueberries, milkweed and monarda. Bees make a beeline for the anise   
   hyssop, she said:  “Oh, my God, it’s crazy. It’s just buzzing so loud.”   
      
   Most neighbors appreciate her unruly plot, she said. “One neighbor asked me,   
   ‘Are you going to clean anything up?’ And I said, ‘Nope.’”   
      
   If the city council’s agenda is any guide, mowing is one of the hottest   
   political topics in Appleton WI, this spring. At a recent meeting of the   
   municipal-services committee of the Appleton council, discussion of No Mow May   
   took up 66 minutes of a 71-   
   minute gathering. Debate can veer deeply into the weeds, such as when members   
   speculated about the ideal height of grass for nurturing dandelions.    
      
   One council member, Chad Doran, proposed to resume May enforcement of lawn   
   length. The no-mow policy “has no scientific basis behind it,” he said.   
      
   Mr. Doran disputed findings of a scientific paper co-written by another member   
   of the council, Dr. Del Toro, an associate professor of biology at Lawrence   
   University. That paper, published in a journal known as PeerJ, found more   
   pollinators in yards of    
   people participating in No Mow May. It was retracted last November because of   
   what the journal described as “potential inconsistencies in data handling   
   and reporting.”    
      
   Dr. Del Toro said the basic findings of the paper were sound but he has   
   improved his methodology and expects to publish a revised version. For the   
   initial paper, he said, he identified live bees while they were trapped in   
   nets. To improve identification,    
   later research involved killing some of the bees and examining them in a lab.   
      
   His co-author on the paper, Relena R. Ribbons, accused opponents of No Mow May   
   of bullying her by questioning her scientific integrity. “There’s no space   
   for that in Appleton,” she said. “We’re not that kind of community.”    
      
      
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