Jenna Dooley: This is WNIJ, I’m News Director Jenna Dooley. We’re deep into fall here in northern Illinois, and a thick layer of leaves crunch underfoot. While many of us are gearing up for the annual chore of raking up the leaves in our yards, environment reporter Jess Savage has been learning about why many species benefit from the leaves staying put all winter. Jess, I’ve gotta say, I’m intrigued! what have you found out so far?
JS: Hey, Jenna, yes! I remember spending hours with my parents raking and raking, just for our work to be covered up by even more leaves. But there’s a growing movement for people to actually leave the leaves on the ground through the winter, including in our listening area.
JD: How so?
JS: Amy Freeman is the director of Adult Services at DeKalb Public Library. She saw that Bloomington Public Library hosted a "leave the leaves" program last year, and she wanted to do the same for her city. She collaborated with experts from the Illinois Prairie Wild Ones Chapter and the City of DeKalb Public Works to create her presentation, and she hopes spreading the word results in action.
“We all try to be good to our pollinators most of the year in the spring and summer, so why not just continue that into the fall in an even easier way? So, a little bit of pushback can be met with some really good points.”
You can also find similar suggestions from so many different organizations, including the USDA and the National Wildlife Foundation. An article published by the USDA suggests that leaving the leaves makes habitat for species that foster pollination and keep pests as bay.
JD: What have you been learning about the benefits of leaving the leaves?
JS: The leaves provide really important habitat for lots of species, including beetles, butterflies, frogs and salamanders. Moths and butterflies construct their cocoons in the leaves.
Falling leaves are an important part of what’s known as the nutrient cycle in ecosystems. Soil microbes go to work breaking down the leaves into minerals and nutrients, returning them back to the soil to be taken up into plants, including grass in lawns. It’s basically natural mulch and fertilizer. They also act as an insulating layer to protect plants’ roots.
Tall, dead plant stalks and stems also offer food and habitat. Some keep their seed heads over the winter for birds to eat, and some are just nice places to perch. Bugs can overwinter in hollow stems as well. Black-eyed Susans, phlox, zinnias and marigolds all offer a winter food source for birds.
JD: That also must mean there are some drawbacks for local species if leaves do get raked up.
JS: Right, exactly. Alan Branhagen is the executive director of the Natural Land Institute. He is passionate about moths and butterflies, which belong to the Lepidoptera order. He recently hosted a seminar about these animals, and he emphasized that conditions for our local species are dire.
“Lepidoptera have numbers have collapsed to the point where several species in the Midwest now are really endangered of extinction. It's that bad. And you know, I try to spin it that you know this group that you know everything that that they do, that they can help with gardening or supporting butterfly conservation is a win and we all can make a difference on that.”
He said the most critical thing people can do to protect butterflies and moths is to leave the leaves.
"So many of these things overwinter as caterpillars in the leaf litter. And so, people who are raking up their leaves or, you know, are just, they don't realize what they're destroying — everything from, you know, lightning bugs, fireflies to, you know, butterflies — and, and so, simple things like that are important.”
JD: And it points to somewhat larger ideas about how many residents are expected to manage their lawn and appearances, and keep up with the Joneses, as they say.
JS: Yeah, exactly. Amy Freeman from DeKalb Public Library highlights those societal pressures. She says many people in her life simply can’t be convinced to leave the leaves.
"I feel sometimes that having a nice lawn is tied to being rich or being manly or being some kind of elite. And I think we just need to let that go and do what's best for the planet instead of what's best for our friends and family or our parents or whoever has told us to be a certain way because it's not working. So, we need to make small changes where we can."
JD: Do advocates offer alternatives or middle-ground solutions?
JS: Absolutely! The University of Illinois Extension suggests that people can rake the leaves to the side or onto garden beds, or around trunks or trees, or even to start small – rake one part of your lawn and leave the rest. But many advocates discourage chopping up the leaves with a mower.
It’s not against the municipal code to leave the leaves in DeKalb. If residents do decide to participate in the city’s leaf collection service, they should keep leaves in a line near the curb and not in the street. The leaves get taken to farms to use for fertilizer. Pickups happen through November.
JD: Thanks for helping us understand what’s going on under the leaves!
JS: You got it!