Contact: Paul Murphy, Chair, Sustainable Saratoga’s Pollinator Committee
email pollinators@sustainablesaratoga.org
NO MOW MAY: GIVE UP YOUR LAWNMOWER AND GIVE BEES A CHANCE!
SARATOGA SPRINGS JOINS NATIONAL NO MOW MAY MOVEMENT
SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York – Put your lawnmower aside for the month of May to help save our bees and the planet.
Once again this year, The City of Saratoga Springs is joining with Sustainable Saratoga to launch No Mow May, a national movement to help our highly at risk Pollinators transition from barren winter to Blooming Spring!
Action Plan: Take No Action!
During the critical month of MAY, Mayor Ron Kim and The City of Saratoga Springs encourage all to keep your mowers at rest and let your lawns go natural in May. This critical transition month allows the Bees, Moths, Butterflies, and all other Pollinators to safely exit their winter ground homes and find nectar nourishment available during May…nectar from beautiful Clover (great nitrogen source for spring lawns), cheerful Dandelions, native lovely violets and the few other Wildflowers that bloom and go to seed in May prior to mowing.
Appleton, Wisconsin was the first U.S. community to adopt No Mow May, in 2020. It proved exceptionally successful in supporting pollinators: No Mow May lawns had 5x as many bees and 3x as many bee species as lawns that were mown, according to scientists in Wisconsin.
“No Mow May is a simple but very effective way that we can help bees and other pollinators, which are facing catastrophic declines due to massive human use of pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change” says Paul Murphy, Chair of The Pollinator Committee for Sustainable Saratoga, which is spearheading No Mow May in Saratoga Springs and the greater Saratoga area. “We are excited to support this excellent effort in Saratoga to help bees and all pollinators, which in turn help our flowers and plants grow. We are delighted that the Saratoga Springs City Council is proclaiming “Saratoga Springs as a NO MOW MAY City!”
We have NO MOW MAY Bee Lawn Signs announcing you’ve signed up to help “Save The Bees”. Let us know if you want a sign by emailing us at pollinators@sustainablesaratoga.org . We are requesting a $10 donation to Sustainable Saratoga to cover the cost of the sign. These signs can be re-used each May for at least 10 years.