Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Third bill encouraging increased use of local native plants has been introduced in Senate!

January 10, 2020

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

The latest bill calls for increased use of native plants on National Parks.

 

On January 8, Senators U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced legislation to promote the use of native plants in the management of National Parks. The bipartisan bill would help preserve biodiversity and realize the numerous benefits that local flora provide to wildlife, human health, and the environment.

 

The Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act (S. 3150) would establish a pilot program to encourage the National Park Service to increase the use of locally adapted native plant materials in the management and restoration of national parks. The bill also calls for increased vigilance in the prevention, control and eradication of invasive species infestations. The bill requires the pilot program to coordinate with the historic National Seed Strategy, which is working sucessfully to support use of local native plants on federal lands.

 

“Bringing more native plants back to our shared public lands will help us combat invasive species, provide food and shelter for local wildlife, and adapt to the looming threat of climate change," said Senator Cantwell in a press release.

 

The bill follows the introduction of the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2019 (MPH, Act; S 2918), also with bipartisan support, in November 2019. That legislation would establish a federal grant program of $5 million per year  to assist state departments of transportation and Indian tribes to carry out pollinator-friendly practices on roadsides and highway rights-of-way. 

 

Under the bill “pollinator-friendly practices” specifically include “planting or seeding of native, locally appropriate grasses and wildflowers, including milkweed, on roadsides and highway rights-of-way” and “removing nonnative grasses from planting and seeding mixes, except for use as nurse or cover crops”.

 

These bills join the “Botany Bill” (H.R. 1572/S. 2384) which seeks to improve funding and support for federal botany programs and increase research into locally appropriate native plants. The “Botany Bill” now has 53 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives, and 11 cosponsors in the Senate.