S.F. No. 3811 Summary

• Road authorities must use integrated pest management methods minimally disruptive to pollinators when destroying noxious weeds in highway right-of-ways, and must use spot treatment if conditions do not require full right-of-way treatment.

• Prohibits mowing, burning, tilling, or haying highway right-of-ways outside cities except within 8-16 feet of the road surface for safety, with one side allowed to be mowed after July 31 and entire right-of-way mowed only once per year after August 31 at a minimum height of 12 inches.

• Prohibits mowing both sides of an entire right-of-way during the same calendar year and allows exemptions for prairie vegetation establishment and maintenance.

• Requires the Commissioner of Transportation to establish pollinator habitat management best practices in collaboration with agriculture and natural resources commissioners, develop a performance-based management plan for trunk highways, and post public maps identifying right-of-way locations and adjacent wildlife habitats.

• Establishes a permit system allowing private landowners to mow or hay adjacent right-of-ways once per year and to obtain pollinator maintenance permits to foster habitat; creates enforcement mechanisms including a public reporting system for violations.