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Bills Would Protect Native Plants, Insects
Proposed PA laws would protect species, ease restrictive rules
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service
The Tube City Almanac
December 15, 2025
Posted in: State & Region
A bumble bee is shown gathering pollen from a rosemallow. Bumble bees are natural pollinators and are considered a threatened insect. (File photo by Vickie Babyak for Tube City Almanac)
Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering several bills to protect insects and promote native plants, amid growing concerns over declining species. The state is home to 77 threatened insects, including the monarch butterfly and American bumble bee.
Nate Reagle, clean energy program advocate with the Sierra Club Pennsylvania, said pollinators are crucial to agriculture, and many insects provide food for wildlife, control pests and help cycle nutrients. He said the proposals would boost farm productivity and environmental health — and noted Pennsylvania currently has no way to list a native land-dwelling insect as threatened or endangered.
“There is no state agency that has authority over the native insects,” he said. “House Bill 441 would grant that authority to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and thankfully, they’ve already been doing a lot of great work when it comes to insect conservation, so it would be a great fit for them.”
House Bill 441 has already passed the House and is now in a Senate committee, where it’s waiting to be advanced. The DCNR would be in position to protect these insects before they require federal Endangered Species Act listing.
Reagle said House Bill 426, still in the House Environmental and Natural Resources Protection Committee, is important because it would encourage planting native species around state buildings, creating opportunities for new habitats across Pennsylvania.
That bill would call for the prioritization of using native landscaping around those facilities to benefit not only insects, but a lot of other wildlife. Water quality that a lot of benefits for using native vegetation.
Reagle said many homeowners’ associations have strict landscaping rules, including approved species lists — and those lists are often filled mostly with non-native plants. This new bill would ease restrictive HOA landscaping rules.
“House Bill 1878 would basically prevent homeowners associations from unreasonably restricting the use of native plants for landscaping, and it still has provisions for making sure that health and safety are taken care of,” he said.
Reagle said House Bill 1878 keeps health and safety rules in place, so associations could still block things like poison ivy in front yards. The bill is still in the Housing and Community Development Committee. He urged Pennsylvanians to work with lawmakers to move all these bills forward to protect native plants and insects.
Originally published December 15, 2025.
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