by Nan Lee

Speaking via a ZOOM connection, Doug Tallamy told his audience at Waterman’s Theater that “We can’t eat sunshine”. He’s right, of course, but that lightly humorous comment came during an otherwise serious presentation that focussed on a new approach to conservation that emphasizes the critical insight that nature is built of millions of specialized interactions.

These specialized interactions are key to preserving our natural world. During their breeding season, chickadees, for instance, must find at least 6,000 caterpillars to feed their young. The parent birds forage only 50 meters from their nest and if the caterpillars are not available, the nestlings will all starve. There is no alternate source of food and those soft, large caterpillars provide perfect nutrition for the chickadees who are transferring energy from bugs to birds. And yet, many property owners expend a good deal of their own energy making sure caterpillars, along with many other “pests”, are eliminated altogether.

Tallamy offers an important, alternative approach, one which requires only small efforts from many people who want to support the earth’s ecosystems. Some ideas: Take away half of our carefully tended lawns (there are 40 million acres of lawn in our nation) and plant native species there instead. Those native trees and plants will thrive and will provide food and habitat for native birds -remember those chickadees- which have evolved to benefit from them. Let’s assume that every lawn-maintaining-owner did just that. Suddenly, 20 million acres have been added to a “Homegrown National Park”. Tallamy’s wonderfully simple idea reintroduces native keystone species across the country and makes eco-diversity meaningful.

Another suggestion: Plant a tree. Especially, plant oak trees, willows and birches. Oaks are magnets for many types of bugs and a mature oak can provide caterpillars and other bugs for up to 60 species of birds. Planting that tree has immediately made you a much better steward of the earth and you have also contributed to putting aside enough land to make a meaningful contribution to nature’s future health.

Tallamy is hopeful and his proposals are not difficult. If you own land, make some of the changes he suggests. If you do not own land, help reduce the light pollution that has helped destroy 50% of the earth’s insects. Use yellow LED lights and you’ll save money, too. Make helping the earth your hobby, Tallamy suggested and, over time, you will become part of nature’s best hope. As you aid in a process of recreating viable habitats you will be acting so that your children and grandchildren will live in a world that cherishes the water, earth, birds and bugs around them.

Oh, and brown tailed moths and caterpillars? They’re not native, you can continue to cut the nests away, soak them in soapy water for a while and then leave them to disintegrate.