In this urgent new short LaDawna shares information on a proposed change to the Endangered Species Act and an opportunity for anyone to make a public comment on this proposed change by May 19, 2025. 

Below is a link to the Federal Register to submit a public comment on this issue before the May 19 deadline, and a suggested outline for a comment. 

1. Why you personally care about endangered species or biodiversity;

2. Why you think that the habitats of a endangered species should be protected;

3. and that you are against this proposal because you are aware that this proposed change will result in lack of protection for the habitat that endangered species rely on.

After you type in your comment, you will click the option that you are an individual and have an opportunity to say who you are. To have the most impact, please include at least your first and last name and your zip code. 

Submit your comment here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/17/2025-06746/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act

Join us as we wrap up our winter/spring season of the Bees and Revery Radio podcast, and look forward to what’s next. In this episode we share our feelings about this podcast so far, talk together about our spring garden and yard work, and let you know what we are planning for our summer podcast season. 

We will be back with new episodes in just a few weeks. In the meantime we both hope that you have a wonderful spring!

https://linktr.ee/beesandreveryradio

For our Spring Equinox episode Emily talks with Kate of Bugs Native Plants. Both Emily and Kate live in Wisconsin and they have a conversation about spring native plant garden planning, spring ephemerals, their favorite midwest native plants, rare local plants, and endangered pollinators. 

Kate also shares her own personal journey that led her to not only love native plants but also want to build a business around native plant landscaping, and how she’s starting to do that. 

Listen in on this friendly conversation, hear about some great Wisconsin resources, and pick up a few tips for native plant gardening no matter where you live.

Just in time for spring yard and garden planning, Emily and LaDawna discuss one of the biggest questions we hear when we talk about our own pesticide-free yards: What About the Bugs? 

In this episode we talk about how to get started if you want a totally pesticide free yard, or just want to cut down on the pesticides you use. We share what we do in each of our yards and why. And we cover some of the hardest issues like food garden pests, hidden dangers of buying ladybugs, tips for mosquito control, and organic pesticides.

Show Notes:

Here are the two online resources we mentioned in today’s episode:

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has a free PDF online that provides a comparative overview of organic pesticides and their impacts on bees here:

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/19-005_web-screen.pdf

The US Environmental Protection Agency has a helpful page on mosquito control, specifically Bti, which we discussed in this podcast. You can find it here:

https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/bti-mosquito-control

Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/beesandreveryradio

In this news short, Emily discusses the final population numbers of Eastern Monarchs counted at the central Mexico overwintering sites. The reported number has doubled since last year, but Monarchs...and all butterflies are not out of the woods yet.

Find and Contact Your Member of Congress:

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Monarch Joint Venture Press Release:https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/eastern-monarch-population-2024-2025

Articles on butterfly decline in US:

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/butterfly-disappear-decline-united-states
• https://www.npr.org/2025/03/06/nx-s1-5317535/butterfly-numbers-have-fallen-by-nearly-a-quarter-since-2000

Send in a comment to support Monarchs under the ESA:https://www.regulations.gov/search?filter=FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137

Xerces Society Open Letter:

https://win.newmode.net/xerces-fws-monarch

In this episode we dig into the history of America’s obsession with the all grass lawn. What’s behind it, what comes next, and share tips for transforming your own yard no matter where you live. We also talk about to find native plant restoration projects locally. We are joined by Patrick who lives in Montana and has been transforming his yard into native plant gardens, in spite of strict local regulations about yard aesthetics there. He talks about his experience and shares his best tips.

You can find Patrick on TikTok as Gas_Station_Macbeth @rockymountainpaganbear

https://www.tiktok.com/@rockymountainpaganbear

https://linktr.ee/beesandreveryradio

In this comedy short we imagine what it might be like to be sponsored by a lawn grass company.

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In this news short we cover the recent Congressional Hearing that was held as an opening attack against the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This news short brings you quickly up to date on not only what’s happening and why it’s important, but what we can do together right now to make a difference. How we can resist this attack.

RESOURCES FOR THE SHOW NOTES:

Three things we can all this week to resist this attack on the Endangered Specieis Act:

Number 1: Find the names and contact information for your three members of congress. Most of us have two senators and one representative. All three of them represent and work for us. You can plug in your zip code here to find yours:

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Number Two: Here are two national organizations that specialize in wildlife protection and that have helpful online resources:

* The Endangered Species Coalition has a list of actions they recommend we all take, including a short phone script if you are calling your members of congress, and additional links to other good resources:

https://www.endangered.org/together-we-have-power-to-stop-trump-and-congress-from-gutting-protections-for-endangered-species-and-marine-mammals/

* Defenders of Wildlife is another national organization that works on these issues and has good online information and action items. From their main page here you can learn more about these issues, and they have a whole section of their site “Taking Action” that you can get to from this main page.

https://defenders.org/

Number 3: Find and join a state or local environmental organization that appeals to you. 

* You can search online: Find a local environmental organization near me

* Or search “Maryland Native Plant Society” (replacing Maryland with your state name of course)

Or you can check out the Endangered Species Coalition list of coalition member organizations, sorted by state (and with a search option), to give you the names of some good ones here: https://www.endangered.org/view/member-organizations/

We look at some of the biggest problems with all grass lawns, and talk about alternatives. We share our best tips for transforming your yard from mostly non-native turf grass into something better for ourselves and the environment. We cover native grasses, low-growing alternatives to grass, and native plant garden ideas. We talk about some of the hard stuff like how to get rid of your lawn grass, how to talk with neighbors, and even HOAs.

Our Linktree:https://linktr.ee/beesandreveryradio

Resources:

• U of MN Turf Grass Science
• Prairie Moon Nursery
• Homegrown National Park
• NYT Video

As we hit the middle of season one of the Bees and Revery Radio podcast, LaDawna looks ahead at what’s coming up next in our remaining first season episodes.

https://linktr.ee/beesandreveryradio