Should you clean leaves from your lawn?

Every autumn, millions of Americans spend hours raking, blowing, and bagging fallen leaves. They haul them to the curb, and they disappear. But those bags are not just yard waste. They are a mass grave for local wildlife. The leaf litter on your lawn acts as a vital winter nursery. According to entomologists, a vast majority of our native pollinators do not migrate or live in hives. They overwinter right there in the dirt and leaves. Queen bumblebees burrow just a few inches into the soil. Luna moths wrap themselves inside fallen leaves to form cocoons. Firefly larvae spend up to two years hunting for food in the damp leaf layer. A landmark two year study from the University of Maryland tested 20 suburban yards. They found that clearing away autumn leaves caused a 45 percent drop in emerging butterflies and moths. It also caused a 40 percent decline in species variety. Predatory spiders plummeted by 67 percent. And when you bag those leaves and send them to the landfill, the environmental damage gets worse. The EPA reports that yard waste accounts for more than 10 million tons of landfill material every year. When buried without oxygen, those leaves decompose and release methane, a greenhouse gas more than 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The National Wildlife Federation and the Xerces Society are pushing a campaign called Leave the Leaves. Experts suggest raking leaves off the main lawn and into garden beds or under shrubs. You can also mulch them into the grass with a mower. The takeaway is not just that leaves are free fertilizer. It is that the simple act of leaving them alone can bring your backyard back to life next spring.