Dear Councilors -

My name is Carol Andrews, home address 1615 E. 7th St in Duluth. The purpose of this email is to bring to your attention a web site regarding weed control ordinances that I believe you will find of use in your deliberations regarding appropriate weed ordinance amendments. By way of background, I am an environmental engineer by day, but as a volunteer I currently serve as national Vice President as well as local President of the Arrowhead Chapter of a national non-profit called Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes. Wild Ones promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. We encourage our members to undertake native plant landscaping projects in a manner that meets these objectives while also being neighborly.

Several of our Wild Ones members throughout the country have assisted with establishing or updating weed control ordinances so that they achieve the desired purpose of requiring that all properties are maintained in an appropriate manner that avoids nuisance conditions while still allowing, or better yet, encouraging more environmentally-friendly practices that minimize storm water pollution. Some of their findings, including model ordinances and a legal discussion paper, can be found on our national web site at http://www.for-wild.org/weedlaws/weedlaw.html.

Landscaping that is designed to minimize environmental impacts should include incorporating native plants into the landscape in an appropriate manner for both enjoyment and to provide habitat, especially for birds and butterflies. In an urban setting, this may mean simply including more native plants as part of existing cultivated gardens. In more rural areas this could include reducing the size of the lawn to only what is necessary and restoring native vegetation in a more natural manner in other areas. Native plants also play an important role in the rain gardens that the City encourages businesses and residents to install to treat stormwater runoff (ref: www.duluthstreams.org or see the UMD rain garden on College St.). Along waterways native plants play a critical role in preventing erosion, filtering out sediment and fertilizers before they reach the water and providing habitat. In fact it would be nice to see this or a similar ordinance for the City actually prohibit mowing lawns within 5' (preferably more) the edge of a surface water.

If I can be of further assistance in the process of revising this ordinance I would be happy to help. I can be reached at this email address or on my cell phone at 390-8981.

Thank you for your time and dedication to serving our lovely city.

Carol Andrews, President

Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, Arrowhead Chapter

Cheers!
Carol

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