This was originally published April 25, 2024.
Growing numbers of people are leaving their yards unmowed for “No Mow May,” the same month when Maine’s tick season goes into full swing.
No Mow May is a voluntary pledge that formally reached Maine in 2022 after beginning in Wisconsin several years before. Participants aim to provide habitat and pollen for early-season pollinators by mowing their lawns less or not at all for the month.
The practice also provides habitat for ticks, which like to live in long grass.
Deer ticks have been active and multiplying since early March, and American dog ticks are waking up now, according to Griffin Dill, tick lab coordinator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. How many of them you’ll see this year will depend on the weather.
Letting your yard grow can provide them more habitat and may lead to more risk. If you’re concerned, try adding pollinator-benefitting plants to one area of your yard and continue to mow the places where you spend time, Dill suggested. This option also provides pollinator habitat throughout the year.
You can also still participate in what is known as “No Mow May” by mowing less often and leaving the grass to grow 3-4 inches or only keeping part of your lawn unmowed.
Tick risk aside, No Mow May has found an audience in a few Maine towns.
In Lamoine, participating in the movement to mow less helps some people feel like there’s something they can do locally about environmental challenges, according to the town’s conservation commission chair, Larissa Thomas.
The project was so well-received that the town added to it in 2023 by joining the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge, a local government commitment to developing habitat for monarch butterfly populations.
“People in small towns like Lamoine and in bigger towns and cities across Maine face a lot of challenges, but doing things together like “No Mow May” and Mayors’ Monarch Pledge helps forge and strengthen relationships and generates goodwill that pays dividends as we navigate community life,” Thomas said.
Her town is not the only one. Rockland also encouraged residents to participate in “No Mow May in 2022,” followed by Auburn, Saco and Scarborough the next year.
Bangor approved an amendment to its property maintenance code last spring to relax mowing standards throughout the month, allowing residents to grow their lawns longer than 10 inches in May.
