COLUMN: Join the Good Neighbor Iowa Campaign

     Do you participate in the “Good Neighbor Iowa Campaign?”

     Organized by the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental; Education, this campaign aims to reduce unnecessary pesticide and herbicide usage and change Iowa’s lawn-culture to support healthy diverse lawns as a way to protect our water quality, pets, pollinators, biodiversity, and most importantly, our community’s health.

     The Good Neighbor Iowa Campaign website, https://goodneighboriowa.org/healthylawn/, is a wonderful resource for landowners, grounds staff, childcare centers, schools, and lawn care professionals to learn about healthy alternative strategies for lawn care without the use of pesticides and herbicides. These strategies include mowing tall, over seeding, adding compost periodically, healthy weed control, aeration, and reducing and converting lawn areas.

     For example, simply by sharpening your mower blades, adjusting your blade height to 3-4 inches, and mulching the clippings by leaving them on your yard, you will see improvements to your lawn’s overall health. A length of around 3 inches will provide shade for your lawns soil preventing excessive evaporation and decreasing your need for watering while retaining moisture and contributing to your lawn’s healthy root systems. During the heat of summer, your lawn will stay greener longer.

     A section on increasing biodiversity in your lawn leads to a link listing a variety of native pollinator flowers, shrubs, and trees that are good for landscaped areas and are attractive to both pollinators and your neighbors. A few beautiful native forbs that will thrive in Eastern Iowa include purple coneflower, butterfly milkweed, culver’s root, swamp milkweed, blazing star, showy goldenrod, wild bergamot, wild petunia, cardinal flower, mountain mint, rattlesnake master, wild indigo, and white and purple prairie clover. There are native flowers and grasses for all soil types.

     It is not hard to see that children and pets are both at high risk of encountering pesticides and herbicides in treated lawns. These chemicals are often applied to lawns where children live, learn, and play. Maybe you’ve observed the warning/danger chemical application signs in lawns and along sidewalks or smelled the strong chemical scent while walking in your community and neighborhood.

     By reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides, we can improve the quality of life for our families, increase biodiversity, support pollinators, and improve water quality. With proper management reducing or eliminating pesticide/herbicide use does not mean your lawn will be “out of control,” but it does mean that you are trying to be a good neighbor. Visit the Good Neighbor Iowa website to download information on how to manage a healthy lawn.