Town: Residential Landscape Practices Creating Biodiversity Emergency, Try Strategies For Eco-Friendly Yard

BRANFORD, CT — In the last 50 years, North America has lost three billion birds, a decline of 45 percent.

Insects are disappearing at almost eight times the high vertebrate extinction rate. Insects are the basis of food webs that support birds and other animals, including humans. Ninety-six percent of birds need insects to raise their young.

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Research has shown that when yards have less than 70 percent natives, birds, such as chickadees, cannot maintain their population (decreased nesting, fewer eggs, and fledgling death), according to Smithsonian Magazine.

"The way we landscape our homes and communities has a huge impact on wildlife," the town of Branford noted in a news release. "There is a hopeful solution to the biodiversity crisis, and it lives in each of us doing our part to be a better land steward on our own properties."

Branford First Selectman Josh Brooks noted that a rethink and redo on how yards are landscaped will effectively support biodiversity.

“As a community, we have a responsibility to keep our environment healthy and vibrant for generations to come. By working together to educate, advocate, and plant for a healthier future, we can support biodiversity effectively," he said. "If we all make small changes in our activities and decisions, we can have a tremendous impact on our future."

Town: Steps to take to help birds and pollinators

Plant native plants.

• The majority of landscape plants are exotic plants, which provide limited to no ecological support for our native insects and birds.

• Native plants support our pollinators and birds that evolved to depend on those plants.

• Removing invasive plants from your property prevents their spread into the remaining wild areas of our town.

Reduce lawn.

• Lawns provide almost no habitat for wildlife and have been likened to “green deserts”.

• Lawns require significant resources to maintain, including 30% of U.S. water use and mowing, consuming 200 million gallons of gasoline each year.

• 70 million pounds of pesticides are applied to lawns annually.
• Replacing sections of lawn with trees, mini-meadows, rain gardens, or pollinator gardens can help our wildlife and beautify the landscape. Looking out at trees and other plants, not lawns, has been shown to decrease stress, cardiovascular risk and cognitive decline.

Reduce or eliminate pesticide and herbicide use.

• Pesticide and herbicide use is a leading cause of the decline in bees, fireflies, and other insects, and birds who need them for food. A single neonic herbicide-coated seed can kill a songbird.

• Increasingly, evidence shows an association between pesticide exposure and human illnesses, including cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), children’s brain development, etc.

Reduce light pollution.

• Light pollution is associated with declines in night-time pollinators, including fireflies. Migrating birds are disoriented and trapped. Night-time light exposure is associated with an increased incidence of breast and prostate cancers.

• Turn off lights after dark, add motion detectors on lights, or change bulbs to insect-friendly yellow or amber bulbs.

Leave habitats on your property.

• Fall clean-up removes the leaves that insects use to over winter in, butterfly and moth emergence by up to 67% and causing a marked decline in fireflies.

• Leave fall leaves in garden beds or at the edges of the property to preserve this important ecosystem.

• Leave perennials that have gone to seed until spring to provide birds with seeds over winter and bees, etc., winter habitat in their stems.

Several town groups are leading the effort to mitigate the biodiversity crisis and improve public health, it was noted in an announcement from the town.

Theresa Donovan, co-chair of the Garden Club Conservation Committee, said that the group is working to educate residents via native plant sales and other programs.

"We want to show our community that a beautiful yard is teeming with life and is safe for our children, ourselves, and our pets,” said Dr. Joseph Misdraji.

Have questions about pesticides and herbicides? Email Misdraji at jmisdraji@yahoo.com.

Lauren Ruotolo of the Conservation and Environment Commission noted the group recently gave away 385 native plants to Branford residents. The commission helps manage several parcels throughout town by reducing invasive species and replacing them with native plants.

"Our goal is to highlight the importance of protecting our natural resources by planting natives, limiting invasive and non-native plants, and eliminating the use of pesticides/herbicides, which contaminate our soil and waterways," Ruotolo said. "These are just a few meaningful actions anyone can take today to help wildlife thrive."