{"id":1450,"date":"2024-11-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2025-11-24T10:20:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:20:55","slug":"with-a-little-less-work-landscapes-can-be-winter-havens-for-wild-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/with-a-little-less-work-landscapes-can-be-winter-havens-for-wild-things\/","title":{"rendered":"With a little less work, landscapes can be winter havens for wild things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Branches from storm damage and routine pruning can be piled to make habitat for many wildlife species, from songbirds to salamanders. Photo courtesy of the State of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heather N. Kolich, ANR Agent, UGA Extension Forsyth County<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long before our landscapes became landscapes, they were habitat. In natural environments, hundreds of species share unrestricted acres in which to move, nest, and hunt. They occupy niches in horizontal and vertical space, above and below the soil line, on land and in water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When humans settle an area, we alter the environment to better suit our convenience. We cut down trees, disturb soil, change the flow of rivers and streams, remove native vegetation, construct buildings, install pavements, erect fences, and create landscapes with limited plant variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artificial ecosystems of residential landscapes are rapidly increasing in number. In studies published in 2003 and 2005, researchers estimated that the area of land planted in lawn turfgrasses covers 163,000 square kilometers (40,474,861 acres) and expands at the rate of 155,000 hectares (383,013 acres) every year. Turfgrass covers three times the area of any other irrigated crop in the continental U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Many native bees are solitary, not hive forming. They dig tunnels into patches of bare ground to nest and lay eggs. Photo by John Obermeyer, Purdue University Extension Entomology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When habitats are lost, degraded, or fragmented, the wildlife species that depend on them for food, water, and shelter die out or move away. When the birds, mammals, and insects are gone, they no longer spread seeds and pollen to regenerate native plants, and the entire ecosystem declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there are some simple things we can do \u2013 and stop doing \u2013 right now to create habitat for native wildlife in our landscapes. Because residential yards associated with single, detached housing units make up 30 percent of the U.S. \u2013 more than four times the area of protected national forest and park lands \u2013 landscape management changes really can make a positive impact on biodiversity and species protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
Standing dead trees, called snags, provide habitat for cavity nesters such as owls, bats, raccoons, foxes, and many songbirds. Photo by Hans Veth on Unsplash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Allow habitat to happen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most wildlife species prefer a slightly messy environment. Heavily manicured plants and grounds limit options for shelter and refuge. Doing less landscape maintenance is one of the easiest ways to create habitat for pollinators, birds, and small mammals. Fall and winter are times when many animals need quiet, undisturbed places to hunker down and hibernate. Here\u2019s how homeowners can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leave the leaves<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall is the perfect time to adopt the \u201cLeave the Leaves\u201d landscape practice. Leaves on the ground provide overwintering habitat for butterflies, moths, and even some species of bats. If the leaves can\u2019t stay where they fell, it\u2019s okay to rake them to a more suitable area. Leave them whole so they provide warmth and cover for mammals like Eastern Red Bats that burrow into leaf litter to hibernate. Over the seasons, beneficial insects shred, consume, and digest the leaves into soil-improving nutrients and organic matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dead wood is good<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildlife species from songbirds to salamanders rely on brush piles, fallen logs, and standing dead trees for habitat and protection from predators. Loosely pile sticks and branches from pruning or storms into a quiet corner of the yard. Roll logs into garden or trail borders. As long as dead trees aren\u2019t a hazard, let them stand. Holes, cracks, and crevices in standing snags provide nesting and denning spaces for owls, raccoons, foxes, and many songbirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bare a little soil<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bare ground isn\u2019t necessarily empty of life. Solitary bees are some of our best native pollinators, and many species nest in patches of bare ground. They dig tunnels \u2013 which help aerate the soil \u2013 and lay their eggs in chambers underground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Save the stems<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several pollinators and beneficial insects nest in the hollow stems and branches of landscape and garden plants, including dead raspberry canes, wildflower stems, native grasses, and roses. Pollinators such as orchard mason bees and leaf cutter bees lay eggs in hollow tubes of plant stems, installing a cache of pollen and a wall of mud or leaves between each egg chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season, let\u2019s take a break from yard work, allow nature to creep in, and share our yards with something wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before our landscapes became landscapes, they were habitat. In natural environments, hundreds of species share unrestricted acres in which to move, nest, and hunt. They occupy niches in horizontal and vertical space, above and below the soil line, on land and in water.<\/p>\n

When humans settle an area, we alter the environment to better suit our convenience. We cut down trees, disturb soil, change the flow of rivers and streams, remove native vegetation, construct buildings, install pavements, erect fences, and create landscapes with limited plant diversity.<\/p>\n

The artificial ecosystems of residential landscapes are rapidly increasing in number. In studies published in 2003 and 2005, researchers estimated that the area of land planted in lawn turfgrasses covers 163,000 square kilometers (40,474,861 acres) and expands at the rate of 155,000 hectares (383,013 acres) every year. Turfgrass covers three times the area of any other irrigated crop in the continental U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":1456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2277,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions\/2277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}