Leave the Leaves!
11/03/2022. Fall can be a busy time in Minnesota, as we prepare for the onslaught of a long winter. For many of us, our typical “fall chores” include many hours spent raking, chopping, bagging, and disposing of fallen leaves, stems from landscaping and gardens, and woody debris. It can be a lot of work, but there is a great excuse to taking a vacation from these fall tasks.
Did you know that leaves and plant debris are critical habitat for many of our native species of invertebrates? Many critters, including our imperiled pollinators, are dependent on hollow stems, leaf debris, and decomposing woody material for nesting and overwintering.
In other words, leave the leaves to help these insects and other invertebrates make it through the winter.
So, there you have it, an ecologically motivated excuse to be lazy this fall!
This doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to tidy your yard responsibly, though. Check out this great guide by the Xerces Society on best practices, and some tips for how to adjust your fall cleanup for minimal disturbance to native habitats.
Here are just a few of the critters you’ll be protecting:
Bees
Beetles
Butterflies, moths, and their caterpillars
And more!
With more and more of our landscape developed for residential and commercial use, fewer acres are left to these natural cycles, making each of our own yards more important to the ecosystem than we may even realize!
Photo Credits:
Path covered in colorful, fallen leaves (Katherine Abbot).
Woolly bear caterpillar crawls among the leaves (Julie Baumeister).