This is one of the most important lessons! It needs to be shown to every student in every classroom in all grade levels from kindergarten to seniors in high school nation wide. Then to every arborist and landscaper across the country. I’m an arborist who owns a tree care company in southern New Jersey. I encourage the preservation of natives trees and shrubs constantly and have recommended his book hundreds of times to different clients.
There was a piece of property in my neighborhood that I loved to drive by and look at. It had the most wonderfully beautiful, natural yard with shrubs and flowers galore; all well maintained and landscaped. There wasn't a single blade of Kentucky bluegrass to be found. It was my idea of the perfect yard and I've tried to emulate it in my own yard. The house went up for sale a while ago and it wasn't long until all of the machines came to dig up and plow under that beautiful yard. Then came the truck with the huge rolls of Kentucky bluegrass sod. It made me so sad. It's just ugly and boring now. Just grass. The vibrant spark of life it had is gone. The house looks lonely now sitting in the midst of all the grass, like it knows what's been lost. I'm going to work harder now to naturescape my yard to make up for it. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when a brood of chickadees fledged from one of my bird houses this Summer. It meant that my yard had enough plants with caterpillars to support them!
I have a niece that did that, too, bought a house with lots of shrubs and trees and removed them all! I am planting many native plants in my 5 acres that used to be a pasture.
Doug’s advice really works I’ve been planting native Oaks and other native species in my yard for years and I’ve seen species of moths and beetles I’ve never had before. I don’t leave my lights on at night and I don’t mow certain area as and I’ve seen an increase in the population of Lightning Bug Beetles.
So nice to see this. A couple years back I got my mom's 5 acres certified as an NWF backyard habitat and taught her she teaches her neighbors. I learned that many people really do no know they are harming the environment or the importance of planting natives.
This was a phenomenal public service to all. Thank you so much for this information that I will use to do my part to help feed the caterpillars. Who knew? I do now!
WOW!!!.... THANKS FOR ALL OF THIS VIRTAL INFORMATION!!! THAT GRAPH, AT ABOUT 46 min, SHOWS THAT EVERYONE OUGHT TO KEEP THE TOTAL % OF "NON-NATIVE" PLANT SPECIES. TO AT LEAST 25% OR LESS!!! => AND: 100% NATIVE IS OPTIMAL!!!!!
Probably someone with an ugly poison covered "golf course grass" lawn that they mow every four days who says they love birds but has zero habitat or food sources in their lawn for birds or the primary food source of many birds- insects!!
@@garretttooth437 What they don't realize is that it could be more business for them! They can make cash redoing their old landscapes into wildlife gardens and maintaining the formal parts with more sustainable techniques.
Wonderful! I live in a retirement community in Mission Viejo, CA. One of our volunteers in our beautiful Heritage Garden who insists on spraying Roundup all over grounds. Insects, worms and caterpillars are almost non existent. 😢 Any ideas of how to get through some of these individuals, who are still using chemicals to destroy our natural environment? 💚🙏🏼 🌍
How about sit them down if your able and show them this video. Maybe buy Dougs book “Bringing Nature Home” and give it to this person. Ask them to read the first 30 or so pages or so. Any half literate person could do that in about an hour. People need to be educate. Not told to do something. Most people with any compassion for the natural world will start making better decisions if they have some insight.
Thank you for caring ! Hopefully you can unite with other like-minded to sway the board or perhaps sharing recent lawsuits against roundup might scare some sense into her.
To my fellow classmates taking Biology at Sul Ross this semester, I have watched the lecture so you don't have too, you're welcome Complete this quote, “The human impact on biodiversity, to put the matter as briefly as possible, _______________________________________________.” ~ E.O. Wilson Is an attack on ourselves From Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, “Nature is built upon _____________________________________.” Millions of specialized interactions From Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, what do most birds primarily rear their young with? caterpillars From Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, what are four things that we as individuals can do to help native biodiversity in your immediate proximity? Shrink the lawn Plant keystone plants Turn outdoor lights off at night allow caterpillars to complete development From Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, what kind of trees provide the most ecosystem services to the largest variety of animals in North America? Oak trees From Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, what is the biomass percentage of nonnative plants in a landscape that starts to show a decline in chickadee breeding and replacement? 60% Describe what it means and how to fix the "fragmented Persian rug" analogy presented towards the end of the talk.' our ecosystem is fragmented into pieces Put the plants back into the Persian rug pieces What is nature’s best hope? You
No, it’s not. Cultivars are human made varieties. Stick with straight species, like nature intended. Human involvement destroys how much plants produce for the ecosystem.
I’ve been trying to get rid of my “Lawn” and replace it with native ground over, such as native clover. The problem is that some of the very worst non-native invasive plants just exploded all over my property, one of which is considered a “Super-invasive” by the forestry service (Japanese Climbing Fern). There are many others. My guess is that these were brought in when a neighbor brought in a huge delivery of fill dirt that he let sit in his driveway for more than a month, and his driveway is about 15 feet from our driveway. Scattered about the non-native horrors are the sparse patches of native plants, all of which will have to be covered by what I’m going to use to prevent on-native, invasive weed growth. It’s overwhelming, especially given that my tiny neighborhood is surrounded by heavily wooded patches that have been taken over by kudzu, which the woodchucks love, but also invasive (non-native) trees that are taking over everything and not allowing any sunlight to penetrate the woodland floor where native plants used to grow. I wish I owned that land so I could figure out how to get the non-native trees removed. Those trees showed up about the same time that fill dirt was delivered to my neighbor. I’m overwhelmed and feel like I’m losing this battle.
Don't be deceive by nativist agenda , the goal is to have ecologically active complex system, sure native plants and animals have a symbiosis , but so do non natives , the largest most disturbing resource hogging non natives are humans , with out addressing them no amount of weeding will change anything. The most important thing is to not have a short grass mowed lawn, a short grass mowed lawn is basically equal to asphaling over your yard , painting it green and fertilizing and pesticiding it yearly ....... Basically a slab of concrete with weeds growing through the cracks would be greener As for practical advice in getting rid of your lawn , any time you disturb the soil , you get weeds , wind pollinating seeds can last thousands of years when exposed to light and heat they germinate
