What do we do?
When you look at the declining numbers of native wild spaces including insects & other wild life it can be scary and discouraging. But I’m here to tell you we CAN make a change. But what can we do?
Stop the use of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, etc. in your yard. There is almost always a way to naturally repel things we don’t want. Which in retrospect is better not only for the environment but also for us. A lot of the chemicals that are used in these products can cause major health issues over time.
PLANT NATIVE!! Most don’t realize how important it is to have native plants and most don’t even know what native plants are, or what host plants are. This is why I say education is the most important thing. If you don’t know ask, read a book, do your own research! Just please plant native, it doesn’t take much to make a true difference. If everyone was required to have a patch of native plants in there yard it would allow so many different species to thrive again like before perfectly manicured yards were made.
Leave the leaves! Most people think when fall comes around you clean everything out of your yard and practically leave it bare or just grass. When doing so you are destroying so many different forms of life that NEED fallen leaves, spent flower heads, sticks, logs, etc. Don’t shred or throw away your leaves! They decompose into the soil and a lot of different insects use leaf litter to over winter. If anything dedicate an area in your yard to putting leaves sticks and other different yard scraps into for the wildlife that depends on it.
Lose the idea of a perfectly manicured yard. When you leave things more natural it truly makes such a difference, and really who cares what your neighbor carol thinks about the patch of your yard that you leave natural for wildlife? We please humans too much and that is why we see more endangered species and less wild spaces for them to thrive in. I rent so I can’t do a lot of the things I want to do in my yard but I was able to make an 8x8 raised bed that I only put native flowers into, and boy did that make a difference.
Don’t be scared respect & coexist. You don’t have to let insects & different wildlife touch you in order to coexist with them. Just let them bee ;) don’t kill things just because you don’t understand them, cause most of the time they are just curious and just as scared as you are. (Unless it’s a tick or mosquito on you there’s plenty of those to go around lol.)
Thank you for reading if you made it this far! I hope you’re able to take this information and make some sort of change from it! Thank you again & God bless! :)
