January 18, 2024
From the Ohio Prairie Association

On January 8, Governor Mike DeWine signed into law Ohio House Bill 364, allowing milkweed and other native plant seed collection and distribution programs to legally proceed.

“Until today, I could not legally hand you native seeds or a native plant from my house – and many native plants were regarded as noxious weeds,” said David Donofrio, president of the Ohio Prairie Association (OPA), upon its signing. “OPA set out 2 years ago to change that, and today, we have succeeded.”

For years, to counter the loss of wild-growing milkweeds and to support declining monarch butterfly populations, Ohio conservation organizations and government agencies spearheaded programs where citizens were encouraged to hand-collect milkweed seed pods and transfer their ownership to the organizations. These organizations would then donate the collected milkweed seeds to citizens who would deliberately plant new stands of plants.

With these citizen-planted stands of new milkweed plants, monarch butterfly populations in Ohio have been strongly supported. Yet, all of these programs technically violated Ohio’s seed certification law, with potential penalties incurring fines up to $250 or thirty-day jail sentences.

The Ohio Prairie Association, which supports and encourages public planting and appreciation of Ohio’s native prairies, worked with former Representatives Laura Lanese and David Dobos, as well as the Ohio Department of Agriculture, to update state law to allow that seeds may be collected and used for:

a) Conservation of pollinators and threatened or endangered species; b) Planting and creation of native plant habitats; c) Propagation of native plants for their specific conservation; and d) Operation of a seed library, provided that the seed library ensures that any seeds exchanged among the seed library’s members or the general public are open-pollinated, public domain varieties.

The law also removes milkweeds and several other common species from the list of noxious weeds, which previously were required to be mowed down by state workers along railways and roadways. This will allow for greater growth and maintenance of habitat for many Ohio pollinator species and plants, not the least of which being monarch butterflies.

“We are greatly appreciative to all the garden clubs and conservation organizations across the Buckeye state who supported and encouraged the amendment of the seed certification law,” said John Blakeman, Ohio Prairie Association’s founder. “Ohio citizens can now legally collect milkweed seeds and plant new milkweed stands, which will support Ohio’s beautiful monarch butterflies.”