Pollinator Friendly Cities

In July 2014, Shorewood MN became the first city in our state to pass a Pollinator Friendly Resolution. Since then, 44 municipalities around Minnesota that have pledged to protect pollinators on the lands they own and manage- including Austin, Shorewood, Stillwater, Saint Louis Park, South Saint Paul, Andover (with a proclamation), Mendota Heights, Maplewood, Fridley, Fergus Falls, La Crescent, and, our three largest communities: Duluth, Minneapolis and Saint Paul!  Ramsey and Washington County and two school districts have also passed resolutions. Owatonna, North Oaks and Afton are the newest pollinator friendly communities.

Click here for a complete list of communities and links to their resolutions. Don’t see your community here? Contact us and we’ll add your community. We update this list quarterly.

CHECK OUT THIS TOOLKIT WE PUT TOGETHER ON BEST LANGUAGE FOR A POLLINATOR FRIENDLY RESOLUTION. 

AND! A MODEL RESOLUTION! Humming for Bees, the Pollinator Friendly Alliance, Pollinate Minnesota and the Pesticide Action Network put this together Spring 2017.

What is involved in a pollinator friendly resolution? 

In MN, these are pledges: to increase flowering habitat, to stop or limit pesticide use, including systemic pollinator lethal insecticides, and to celebrate your resolution- let people know you passed one.

Check out Saint Paul's resolution here (agenda item 17); there's lots of detail- included great language on a defined IPM policy and land management pilots in areas with traditionally higher pesticide loads. Special thanks to authors Russ Stark, Dai Thao, and Amy Brendmoen and Mayor Chris Coleman's office.

The City of Minneapolis unanimously passed this resolution in August 2015. Thanks to authors Council Members Cam Gordon and Linea Palmisano. 

Pollinate Minnesota worked closely with the city staff and elected officials in both Saint Paul and Minneapolis on their resolutions. We're lucky to have other amazing pollinator advocates in our state! Our friends Humming for Bees worked with Shorewood to be the first to pass a resolution.  Check out their template for resolutions and the text of all resolutions here. The Pollinator Friendly Alliance (also friends:) were integral to Stillwater, Stillwater Township, and Washington County's pollinator friendly resolutions, and continue to share on-the-ground lessons of resolution implementation through their annual Best Practices for Pollinators Summit and on their website.

Are you interested in making your city more pollinator friendly? Your neighborhood? Your county?  We offer consulting services to help you transition to a bee friendly community.

and... stay tuned, we'll be linking to more local and national ongoing initiatives!  There are so many exciting, inspiring examples of work around the country to protect our pollinators.  We'll be celebrating them here.