Make 2021 a Conservation New Year

Fresh cut local Christmas Tree.

This weekend many are out shopping for the holiday Christmas Tree. And while most people think it’s bad to cut a live holiday tree. Instead, they may buy an artificial tree made of plastic or other synthetic material. And think because it can be reused year after year, it saves real trees. But not so, according to the Nature Conservancy; when natural trees are harvested for sale, there are more than ten times as many left standing! Out of the 350-500 million growing on tree farms across the U.S., only 30 million trees are harvested for Christmas each year.

Buying real trees will help keep tree farms in business – and in turn, keep their lands covered in the healthy forest habitat that wildlife depends on to survive. In addition, Christmas tree farms provide many of the same benefits as community trees and forests; cleaning the air and water, removing carbon, stabilizing soil, and more.

When purchasing a tree look for the NYS Grown and Certified label. Visit NY Grown and Certified producers @ NYS Ag & Markets

What’s your New Year’s resolution? Make 2021 a Conservation New Year?

Let’s start by shopping locally.

When we buy from independent, locally owned businesses a significantly greater portion of our money is then recycled back through our local economy — to make purchases from our friends’ businesses, to aid our neighbors in need, and to support our local farms , when you personally know the people behind the business where you’re buying local products and services, you enjoy a connection you would not otherwise have.— ultimately strengthening the base of our whole community. One added benefit; shopping local conserves energy and resources, for example; less gas for travel. Additionally, local businesses often have a smaller carbon footprint than larger companies.

Here are a few examples of buying local:

• Purchasing locally grown Christmas Trees and handmade wreaths support our farmers and is good for the environment
• Buy locally farmed and butchered meat and poultry, there are many producers in the area
• Gift certificates from local restaurants, especially this year, when many local businesses have limited capacity, a gift certificate supports their future
• Homemade cookies and fresh apple and pumpkin pies from local merchants, many small, family-owned bakeries buy ingredients and various products from other local businesses
• Fingerlakes wines are considered some of the best in the world many producers have websites to order
• Honey and honey products, Wayne County is home to many beekeepers
• CSA certificates, many sustainable farms have Community-Supported Agriculture programs, why not purchase for a friend?
• Pottery and craft items, ask friends and neighbors for local artisans, many work from their homes, and even sell on Etsy!
• Alpaca products are warm — consider a local farm for those hats and scarfs
• Purchase a Forever Green Tree & Shrub sale gift certificate! for 2021

If you are on Facebook, visit Find your Farmer in Western NY or for NY Grown and Certified producers visit NYS Ag & Markets

Leave the Leaves to Benefit Wildlife

It’s Fall! The garden produce is harvested, and leaves are changing color and tumbling from the trees—and that means fall cleanup in the yard and garden.

For many people fall cleanup means cutting all the seed heads and stems off the flowers and raking up all of the leaves. A tidy garden and yard are what many people strive to achieve. Everything clipped back, leaves raked and removed, messy piles of branches put in the green bin for pick up. This tidiness may look nice to us, but it is not good for all of the small creatures that live in and around your property.

Out of sight often means out of mind for people and fall is a time when you do not see the bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects that were flitting around your flowers all summer. Where do these insects go when they are not visiting your garden? Some do migrate—like the monarch butterfly, flying south to overwinter in trees in Mexico or along the California coast—but the vast majority spend their entire life in and around your property. Many of our native solitary bees have laid eggs and provisioned nests in soil or in standing dead trees or hollowed-out branches where the young are pupating. Bumblebee queens have found areas to overwinter under branches, in rock walls, and in other relatively dry, snug places.

Many species rely on fallen leaves for cover and to insulate them from the elements. Depending on the species, butterflies and moths spend the winter as eggs, caterpillars, pupae, or adults. Great spangled fritillary and wooly bear caterpillars tuck themselves into a pile of leaves for protection from cold weather and predators. Red-banded hairstreaks lay their eggs on fallen oak leaves, which become the first food of the caterpillars when they emerge. Luna moths and swallowtail butterflies disguise their cocoons and chrysalis as dried leaves, blending in with the “real” leaves. There are many such examples.

Beyond butterflies, bumble bees also rely on leaf litter for protection. At the end of summer, mated queen bumble bees burrow only an inch or two into the earth to hibernate for winter. An extra thick layer of leaves is welcome protection from the elements. There are so many animals that live in leaves: spiders, snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, mites, and more—that support the chipmunks, turtles, birds, and amphibians that rely on these insects for food.

Leave the leaves does not mean ignoring them and leaving them where they fell. You can move them to places in your yard where they are out of the way, will not kill your turf, and will still help wildlife. A thin layer of leaves can actually help turf—but too much will kill the grass. Consider raking leaves into areas around trees, or use them as winter mulch for perennials or to cover garden beds. Leaving a thick layer of leaves in garden beds helps minimize weed problems early in the spring and can be a great soil amendment.

#leavetheleaves

This article is an abbreviated version of an article posted by Scott Hoffman Black of the Xerces Society, to read the full article click here.