Imagine A Wildlife Refuge That Does Not Protect Its Wildlife
Dr. Doug Tallamy, Dr. Daniel Klem and Jim Cubie J.D.
Imagine a wildlife refuge that does not protect its wildlife. How could this be possible? It is not only possible, it is likely, unless we take immediate action to prevent it.
Unfortunately, many advocates of native plants, birds and pollinators – – good-hearted people who want to help reverse biodiversity declines by providing the native plants which wildlife needs in their yards – – inadvertently make just this mistake. When we design ecologically attractive landscapes they also include real dangers to wildlife, we have actually created ecological traps that draw many animals to their death. And that, of course, is not the goal!
We are asking for a culture change on how we do native plant promotion and we know that changing culture can be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, the logic of not killing the wildlife we want to protect is overwhelming. We need to up our game on how we promote native plants – and protect wildlife.
There are five key actions that should be in place the day a native is planted.
1. No cats in the yard. Residential cats kill over 1 billion birds and who knows how many butterflies annually.
3. Manage pests without pesticides. It makes no sense to plant natives and then hire a mosquito fogger to fog your property. Contrary to popular belief, mosquito fogging kills all insects including essential bird food, not just mosquitoes. The same non-target effects can be said of broad-spectrum lawn treatments.
4. Turn off outdoor lights, install motion detectors, or switch to yellow bulbs. Residential outdoor lights are a major cause of insect declines, particularly the moths that create the caterpillars that feed the birds.
5. Be mindful of wildlife when doing routine maintenance. Avoid mowing in the evening when toads are active. Raise mower blades so that you mow over the box turtle instead of through it. Put window guards on basement windows so that frogs and toads don’t get trapped and die.
We need to consistently couple this important message with our efforts to recruit new native plantings in residential landscapes. For example, one major wildlife organization recently spent 4,900 words describing the benefits of native plants, providing details about how to plant, choose and buy them. But they only spent one closing paragraph about protecting birds from window strikes. And this article was an exception. Most articles promoting natives say nothing about protecting the wildlife those plants will attract to your yard.
To protect against window collisions see https://ornithologycenter.com/protectbirds/ To control mosquitoes without killing bees, butterflies, caterpillars, fireflies, dragonflies, and literally thousands of species of insect predators and parasitoids that will maintain food web balance in a well planted yard, visit https://summitchemical.com/products/mosquito-dunks/. Avoid lawn insecticides as much as possible. They are rarely necessary at all but are pushed by lawn care companies preventively.
We are asking for a culture change and we know that changing culture can be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, the logic of not killing the wildlife we want to protect is overwhelming. We need to plant and protect simultaneously, or we have actually conserved little.
The statement can be downloaded at https://www.muhlenberg.edu/media/contentassets/pdf/academics/biology/faculty/klem/Tallamay%20and%20Klem.pdf
Posting on Tallamy Site https://homegrownnationalpark.org/guest-posts/window-strikes-and-native-plants-guest-contributor
Dr. Klem’s book “Solid Air” can be ordered at Solidairbook.com
Dr. Tallamy’s work is featured at https://homegrownnationalpark.org/
How to reform native plant promotion at bird clubs. https://ornithologycenter.com/bird-safe-yard-absolutely-essential/#-native-plant-bird-safe-strategy-for-bird-clubs
For a detailed explanation of why adding native plants to
a small yard will not add to the bird population, and may actually increase bird deaths see https://ornithologycenter.com/Differentstrategy/
For bird window collision prevention see https://ornithologycenter.com/protectbirds/
For further information jimcubie1@gmail.com 843-991-1059