Backyard habitat supports a variety of wildlife (left to right): American Lady underwing - photo Nancy Lebedzinski; nesting bluebird-- a fledgling seen here- photo Nancy Lebedzinski; and Lupine bee - photo Gaynor Bigelbach.

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy: Create Backyard Habitat

  • Even small yards can become excellent habitat for insects and birds; and many yards support a range of wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation has a program to certify backyard habitats that can be valuable programs, especially for children.
  • Use pollinator plants in gardens to support bees and other insects.
  • Replace lawns with meadows: Wildflowers and native grasses provide excellent habitat for insects and birds. Converting lawns to meadows has the added benefit of creating attractive landscapes that reduce maintenance requirements.
  • Remove Wildlife Barriers: maintain barrier-free landscapes that allow movement of wildlife through private lands.
  • Plant Trees: Landowners, municipalities, and other private or public entities can work together to plant and maintain trees. Trees sequester and store carbon, moderate temperatures and provide critical habitat, and they enhance the visual landscape. If trees must be removed due to disease, aging, or other requirements, plant new trees. According to Eiseltova and coauthors (2012), a single shade tree can provide the cooling equivalent of many air conditioners running continuously. In Worcester, MA, after thousands of the shade trees infested with the Asian Longhorn Beetle had to be destroyed in 2008, a representative neighborhood city’s summertime energy consumption increased by 37%, demonstrating the great value of shade trees in reducing the urban heat island effect.

 An Example:  Lawn to Meadow: Creating Biodiversity in Your Backyard

Transform you lawn to meadow - photo by Deb FountainImagine waking up to a choir of birds singing, bees buzzing, and butterflies fluttering about! Over the years, Pepperell resident Deb Fountain, turned her turf lawn into islands of native wildflowers, and even a meadow. “I started by planting a meadow and converting small patches around my yard to native plants adapted to my soil, and over the years, it gave me such pleasure, that I couldn’t stop! Now I grow natives for friends, neighbors and our public grounds. I am always delighted to share what I have learned and often even a plant or two.”

Give it a try. Start small. By reducing turf lawns with native wildflowers, hedgerows, trees, and swaths of meadow, you can eliminate the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers that pollute our water, and you will be providing an essential habitat for wildlife, including for our most at-risk native pollinators. You’ll love it and so will the birds! 

Just getting started? Buy native plants at your local garden club plants sales; ask your public librarian for books on native plants for New England; or check out these garden and lawn online resources: