Before an inspiring charge to restore the former roar of Monarch butterfly wings brought my time at the Keep America Beautiful 2024 National Conference in San Diego to an end, I gained a new appreciation for moths’ role in the ecosystem. Entomologist and ecologist Doug Tallamy assured everyone in the packed ballroom that we were “nature’s best hope” in the effort to keep American ecology functional.
Keynote speaker on the second day of the conference, Doug focused on what people can change locally – commit to transform half their lawn to native vegetation. We must shrink the lawn, he emphasized, noting there is 40 million acres of lawn nationwide. “What if we cut it in half and put plants back? We could have a 20 million acre homegrown national park – get to experience the natural world alone. It’s important for kids (who often) experience nature deficit disorder.”
In addition to reducing the area of lawn, to achieve a homegrown national park, Doug said they are asking everyone to: plant more natives, remove invasives and protect natural areas of the property.
Doug, who lives in southeast Pennsylvania, showed how he and his wife transformed 10 acres of what had been farmland back to a natural setting within a few years. They planted oak trees that began attracting wildlife in the first few seasons of growth – no need to wait decades. However, he described what role acorns will play as ants, weevils, jays and a madrid of species depend on this tree. “Nature is a series of specialized relationships,” he said.
“We need to move beyond conservation to restoration – need to make functional ecosystems again,” Doug said. He said it cannot be done without flowering plants which attract invertebrates that many animals eat. Moths, specifically their caterpillars, are a barometer of a food chain’s health. “Even in winter chickadees eat 50 percent insects and spiders,” he said. “Think of caterpillars as soft little sausages worth 200 aphids. For most birds, caterpillars are essential for their diets. It takes six to nine thousand caterpillars for one clutch of chickadees. They only forage 50 meters from their nest.”
If everyone with control over a lawn was to till half of it under and start fresh with a native setting in mind, specific plant selection is vital to establish a food web. “It is not the presence of non-native plants that destroys food webs. It is the absence of native plants,” he said. To landscape for caterpillars, Doug said you have to be fussy about the plants you pick because so are caterpillars. “Plants don’t want to be eaten,” he said. “Ninety percent of insects that eat plants can only eat specific ones they’re adapted for.”
Doug listed three missteps that have contributed to an overall bent toward non-native and introduced plants:
>We think of nature as optional.
>We have assumed that humans and nature cannot co-exist.
>Our third mis-step was to leave earth stewardship to a few specialists, not seeing it as an inherent responsibility of every human being.
It would be incredible to have 20 million more acres of native landscape. However, anyone who wants to claim an acre or a fraction thereof to the cause must be dedicated in doing the research (perhaps start with the local University of Nebraska Extension office) on how to best check off the four points mentioned above as well as devote the time and labor to make it happen. Anyone who is in the process of transforming their yard or has already had success, please spread the word so others can learn firsthand.