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Attachment B No Mow May Follow Up for Participants No Mow May: Follow-up and Considerations �VLAiw Vadnais Lake Area „�/ Wemr Mene�ment Orgenimtim Thank you for participating in No Mow May! The community support for a new lawncare vision that is more conducive to pollinators has been truly inspiring. The presence of early flowering weeds has helped support emerging pollinators, and the longer standing vegetation has helped buffer our lakes and wetlands during the first spring rains. Heading into June, property owners will need to return to more conventional mowing practices to come back into compliance with City Code. As you make this transition, there are some things to consider regarding how No Mow May could impact your lawn the rest of the year. Depending on the dominant grass species in your lawn, refraining from mowing may require some extra care and a slow return to a regular mowing routine. 2022 has been a largely cold spring, and many lawns can adapt to a period of no mowing followed by a return to mowing. Please read on to be ready and to make informed decisions that are likely to affect how your lawn fares through the late summer months. How does No Mow May affect the lawn? • Conventional grass varieties such as Kentucky Bluegrass don't do well if more than 1/3 of the grass blade is cut at a time. Cutting more than 1/3 of the blade cuts into key tissues in the blade of grass. When this happens, the grass spends its energy recovering instead of growing or storing nutrients. This makes the grass more vulnerable to disease and less prepared to bounce back after drought or dormancy. If your grass is struggling in this way, it may require human intervention with fertilizers or other treatments to get it back to its former state. Does No Mow May affect the larger watershed? • It depends. When No Mow May ends, there's going to be a large amount of biomass to cut. At any time of year, it's important to keep grass clippings on the lawn and off of paved surfaces. Despite seeming "natural", grass clippings are an excessive nutrient that acts as a pollutant when it drains to a lake, creek, or wetland. There is no treatment between the street and the receiving waterbody, and all that extra nutrient changes the aquatic community towards an unbalanced, turbid, pea -soup green state. This is what VLAWMO and watershed organizations across the State are trying to avoid. When mowing for the first time after a long period of growth, it may be difficult to contain the grass clippings on the lawn, so be sure to plan for extra time to sweep up the clippings to keep those nutrients on the land and out of the water. • Never dump grass clippings or yard waste into wetlands or ditches — this is a nearly permanent impact on the soil and health of our water resources. It makes waterways clogged with debris, which is an expensive stress on public tax dollars to remedy, and creates soil conditions that are more prone to invasive species. To support a balanced watershed and ecosystem, take grass clippings to a yardwaste facility or dispose of them through a yardwaste hauler service. Ramsey County manages seven yard waste collection sites that accept grass clippings; find information about hours and locations at www.ramseycounty.us/yarclWaste. cityvadnaisheights.com Page 1 of 2 vlawmo.org