Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Senate introduces bipartisan legislation to promote pollinator and native plant friendly roadside management.
December 17, 2019
On November 20, the Monarch and Pollinator Highway (MPH) Act of 2019 was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The legislation would establish a
federal grant fund 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”
The bipartisan bill was introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).
NPCC partner
the Xerces Society for invertebrate conservation was instrumental in developing the legislation. Xerces Executive Director, Scott Black, points out “With so much of our natural landscape lost, the millions of acres of roadsides across the US have become increasingly important as pollinator habitat.” The same is true for many other animals - as well as native plants.
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