Christine Moore.
By Christine Moore
In Summary:
Entomologist and author Doug Tallamy argues that parks and preserves alone cannot reverse the country’s loss of birds, insects, and other wildlife. He encourages property owners to dedicate portions of their lawns to native trees, shrubs, and plants that provide food and habitat while benefiting the soil and watershed. Strong Towns Apopka will put that idea into practice by planting native shrubs along the West Orange Trail this fall.
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The Strong Towns organization provides numerous teaching tools on issues that include the reduction of suburban sprawl, support for smaller road improvement projects that protect all users, the lowering of parking minimums in urban areas, support for local, small, incremental building and policies, encouragement for more biking and walking, and the use of native plants in landscapes.
Related: Apopka needs transportation choices, not just wider roads.
As a brand-new butterfly enthusiast, I have done significant research on utilizing native and keystone plantings. While doing the research, I came across a fabulous speaker on the importance of pollinators, Doug Tallamy. Doug is an entomologist, professor, and founder of a national organization called Homegrown National Parks. He has a prolific presence on YouTube and is a best-selling author.
Professor Tallamy explains a lot about the current biodiversity crisis. He talks about parks, preserves, and botanical gardens as insufficient to end the crisis. He believes if every private property dedicated 50% of its lawns to native plants, trees, and shrubs, the crisis could be turned around.
What is the crisis, exactly? The earth has lost over 3 billion birds and nearly half of all insects.
Now, I haven’t exactly missed the love bugs – but I have noticed there are not as many. Professor Tallamy believes that nature is resilient and we must simply put the plants back. This means planting Florida natives and removing invasive species. He posits that every private landscape could accomplish four things by using native plants:
1) Carbon sequestration & support of caterpillars
2) Habitat for pollinators such as bees and butterflies - 90% of all plants require pollination
3) Support for the food web
4) Benefits to the watershed
Dr. Tallamy goes on to explain that there are 44 million acres of grass in the United States that are useless to the ecosystem. If each property owner reduced their grassy areas and planted keystone trees, native shrubs, and plants, the ecosystem would improve. He uses the simple test that if breeding birds are active on a property, your property is healthy.
He recommends planting keystone trees such as OAKS. Orange County Government provides free oaks at six annual tree giveaways. I planted about a dozen free trees in my yard.
Key Words:
- Native plants provide food and habitat for butterflies, bees, birds and other wildlife.
- Tallamy encourages property owners to convert portions of their lawns into productive native landscapes.
- Native trees and plants can sequester carbon, support caterpillars and pollinators, strengthen food webs and benefit watersheds.
- Oak trees are considered especially valuable because they support numerous wildlife species.
- Strong Towns Apopka is seeking volunteers for a fall native-shrub planting project along the West Orange Trail.
The Strong Towns Apopka organization will be planting native shrubs along the West Orange Trail as our fall project. Thankfully, we have a strong partnership with Orange County Parks & Recreation for ongoing maintenance. Once natives are watered in, they require very little. If you would like to participate in the fall native planting project, please contact me at ChristineforOrange@gmail.com.
