Changing attitudes key to making your home a home to wildlife

The classic American lawn, all grass, a few trees, a few shrubs and a few flowers, is lacking one ingredient, and that's food.

Food for birds, bees and a healthy ecosystem. Some local experts are working to change that attitude, however, and provide that food.

"There's so much lawn out there," said Mike Kay, the Frederick County Forester for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "We should encourage people to plant more trees."

Tree plantings have proliferated across Frederick County this month, along streams, in parks, on farms and at schools. Tree plantings are easy to spot, because the young seedlings are encased in deer-proof plastic tubes.

There are also programs to help homeowners plant more trees and wildflowers. All it takes is a little research, a few tools and a desire to get your hands dirty.

Such programs may seem trivial, but small efforts add up. Tree plantings and wildflower gardens provide calm oases in urban and suburban areas, mean less chemical fertilizers going into groundwater, and restore the health of local rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

"Most people are interested in the health of the land," said Jonathan Kays, Natural Resources Extension Specialist for the University of Maryland's Cooperative Extension headquarters in Keedysville. "We guide them through a process that enables them to make good decisions."

Kays has developed "The Woods in Your Backyard," a workshop in Frederick starting May 5 for homeowners with one to 10 acres. 

Those with less than that, however, also have options. Jim Gallion, of Walkersville , has converted his quarter- acre yard into a haven for birds, butterflies and frogs. Gallion, a member of the Maryland Native Plant Society, owns Wildlife Gardening Adventures with his wife, Teresa. When he started digging up his yard about 20 years ago, it was a no-brainer.

"There's less mowing and less chemical fertilizers," he said. 

Native plants must be watered once a week while getting established, but once they have set down roots, the plants require little upkeep. His yard is certified with the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, and several other wildlife organizations.

Gallion has a rain barrel rigged up to catch runoff from his gutters, and the excess flows into a small pond he has built to attract frogs.

"There's this thing about conforming to a rigid set of guidelines when you landscape a house," he said. "When guys got back from World War II and moved to the suburbs, they had to have the perfect lawn." 

Problem was, it didn't provide any food for wildlife. Native gardens feed wildlife, and don't need mowing, Gallion said. Non-native plants, once prized by gardeners because of their low maintenance, cause more problems than they solve, he said.

Problems result when winds and birds scatter the seeds of these invasives into woods and fields. Invasives like English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle, eonymous, periwinkle, mile-a-minute, purple loosestrife, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry and kudzu smother native plants. That means wildlife that depend on their food have less to eat.

That's where the homeowner comes in. Getting rid of the invasives may take a lot of weeding and judicious use of herbicides. 

In their place, Gallion recommends native black-eyed susans, bee balm, joe-pye weed, native sedums, phlox, evening primrose, cardinal flower, oxeye daisy and literally hundreds of other native plants. 

The Maryland Native Plant Society lists on its website common and rare wildflowers that thrive in Maryland's piedmont and mountainous soils.



Carpet of flowers

While envisioning a garden of plenty can seem daunting, even the smallest patch of ground can become a haven for wildlife and a feast for human eyes with a little planning and patience.

"Take your time," Gallion said. "Look at it as a five to six year project. If you're planning on staying in your home for a while, start small."

One of the first notions people must get rid of is squares and rectangles, boxy, rigid little gardens. "You want a nice, flowing, easy movement through the yard," he said.

He suggests laying out a garden hose to outline potential gardens. "You can move it around easily," he said.

To get rid of grass, or turf reduction, as he calls it, the best way is to use a square shovel and dig sections at a time. 

"If you want to get it done quicker, use a sod cutter," he said. But those are heavy, and you'll probably need at least two people.

Another way is to place unopened bags of topsoil on grass. It will take three months, but the grass will die. After two to three months, slice open the bags and pour the topsoil directly on the ground. "If you till the grass, you will bring up weed seeds and get a garden of weeds," he said.

Then, start planting. Gallion recommends "Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed," a publication of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Chesapeake Bay office, as a guide on what to plant and where. The guide is free.

"As the years go by, you add to that," he said. "Make your choices based on soil pH, sunlight and moisture."

While some plants are attractive to deer, there are many that aren't, he said.


At home in the woods

Kays got the idea for the upcoming workshop, The Woods in Your Backyard, while working around his home near Fairplay. He has three acres at the end of a cul-de-sac. His development was carved out of a cornfield.

"My background is in traditional forestry," he said. "Marketing timber, forest stewardship and planning. But 85 percent of people who own forest land own less than 10 acres."

Most forestry programs are aimed at landowners who own more than 10 acres. But homeowners in a development like his, where most tracts are about three acres, can provide some natural habitat, and potentially harvest a tree or two every so often. 

A group of neighbors working together may have a working stand of timber. This allows for a few trees to be cut, for firewood or other purposes, and helps the other trees stay healthy, Kays said.

"It's a two-pronged approach, to enhance existing woodlands, and to create new natural areas," he said.

Homeowners can get tree seedlings from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for 25 cents. These seedlings will grow to 15 feet or higher in 10 to 15 years.

Kays planted pinoak seedlings, a native tree, 15 years ago, and the trees now form a tall canopy over one section of his yard. 

"We decided the only lawn we would have is around the house," he said. There's enough room for a backyard badminton game before the lawn meets up with forest.

But before planting trees, he says to use an herbicide to kill the grass around it, or the grass may suck the water away from the young tree.

Kays has cut out invasive trees, especially ailanthus, or tree of heaven, an invasive tree that has taken root in many unkempt forests in this region. To kill these trees he waits until fall or winter when the tree is sucking food sources into the roots for spring growth, and girds the tree with an ax or hatchet. He then paints the trunk with Round-up or a stronger herbicide.

"Learn how to use pesticides," he said. 

For anyone wanting to convert a large patch of ground into a stand of trees, he recommends getting a private pesticide applicator's license through the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

Kays created a woodland trail that his Australian shepherd happily uses. He also has a neighbor who works with him on developing the woodland. 

"Wildlife doesn't respect property boundaries," he said.

The workshop is divided into sections. Property owners must decide what they want and what they have. Kays and his associates wrote the book "The Woods in Your Backyard," to outline steps for those taking the course and anyone else who's interested.

"My job drove me to this, but I based it to a certain extent on my experience here," Kays said. 

One question he gets a lot is will a forested area attract deer? "By creating this, you're going to have deer, but you're going to have other things, like birds, aesthetics, sanctuary, privacy."