[Pollinator] Standing Up for Native Thistles

[Matthew Shepherd]

The Xerces Society doesn’t only stand up for underappreciated animals, but
also plants!



Native thistles play an important role in our ecosystems and yet, are
frequently treated as weeds alongside their nonnative relatives. They occur
in a broad range of habitats—pasture grasslands, native prairie remnants,
roadsides, idle fields, open woodlands, savannas, and wetlands—and their
seeds help sustain enormous flocks of songbirds. The nectar and pollen of
these plants draw countless flower visitors, including the federally
endangered rusty patched bumble bee. Native thistles also fill an important
bloom gap in late-summer and fall, when other flowers may not be in bloom,
helping to fuel the monarch migration.



In late 2018, we had an opportunity to give native thistles a boost in
Iowa. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship opened a
short window for public comment about the state code that shapes the
management of noxious weeds—so we grabbed it and submitted a letter
requesting that native thistles be removed from the list of Class B noxious
weeds for control and that the only thistles included were nonnative
species. Six months later we heard that the weed laws had been rewritten!



Read more in this article on our blog: Standing Up for Native Thistles, by
Sarah Nizzi, one of our Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planners & NRCS
Partner Biologists.

https://xerces.org/blog/standing-up-for-native-thistles





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Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach

*he/him/his*



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Protecting the Life That Sustains Us



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