WildLawn is a professional land renovation firm that both consults and restores landscape function for landowners throughout the mid-Atlantic and New England. They work with state and federal agencies and homeowners like you that want to do the right thing to sustain our planet.
A principal with ar wild sorry go ahead yep that’s mark this is very informal so okay good no worries yep yep uh Mark is a principal with Arc wild and ecological restoration firm servicing federal and state agencies and conservation programs with high quality native plants genetics and the site surveys including planting
And invasive species control Mark’s got a Bachelor’s of Science and a master’s of Science and interesting too that Mark or Arc wild maintains the largest private database of plant species and plant communities on the East Coast so Mark I’ll turn it over to you and I can vouch for here I’ll tell you
What here’s a real quick story Mark I don’t know if I’ve shared this actually with you but it was one of the first times we were able to get mark on the golf course and we had a native area that I was kind of kind be honest with you
Pretty proud of and was was looking forward to Mark coming and Tak taking a look and we didn’t get 50 yards from this area and Mark shouts out you use the wrong Eco type of Indian grass I don’t know if you remember that Mark I do I still feel bad about
That I just kind of SL over and went oh no yeah it’s like well Mark how the hell did you know that I used the wrong Ecco type and you just you just said that’s too tall it’s not used to the amount of rains that we get in the
Northeast so with that and here’s and here’s the big challenge with I think Mo working with Mother Nature it’s the idea of trying to make things simple enough that we as Layman can kind of do these things but also un with the understanding that oil boy nature is complex so with that
Mark uh needless to say after our first get together things have have rebounded quite nicely and we do we we have a very great relationship and always learn something Mark so take it away yeah I think what you’re doing Matt uh you know bringing you know real science real you
Know real you know work to a public space in the way that you’re doing it is um is pretty outstanding and you know I do hope that people kind of learn from what you’ve learned over the last almost 20 years in which you’ve been exploring how to you know
Renaturalization maintained for a very long time so it’s really work that you’re doing that’s going to change the world uh because people can see what you do people don’t always get a chance to see what we do all right I’ll uh I’ll say thank you for having me
I will share a screen so this presentation is really oriented towards um homeowners and it looks like everyone here is a professional so might seem a little little off audience but I will run you through it anyway uh particularly if this is going to go on a
Website um you know this this should have content at a level that a lot of people can access and understand so a little bit about me if I can figure how to do this so all right so about me so I I am not your average tree
Hugger um my background in training is in engineering and and management consulting uh I’ve been trained uh you know through school and through you know my previous employers you know how to do PR pretty much one thing and that’s how to think how to think about problems
And and how to to solve problems and the underlying assumption is is that all problems can be solved if you think about them hard enough and and take the right right actions so that that’s my professional training um you know I’ve worked all over the world um Europe Asia and North
America mostly focusing on helping you know very large companies global companies uh fix financial problems that’s my my you know professional training um but about 20 years ago I walked away from you know that industry in that world because even though I was fixing money problems it felt as though
It really wasn’t helping to solve any real problems real problems that that everyone is experiencing so I did do a career shift about 20 years ago so that’s a little bit about me um my focus um is is on what we we’ll talk about you know being our our mutual
Problem um we all share a pretty significant problem and that is you know the state of our environment globally nationally and and even regionally and in our neighborhoods uh through uh cultural norms and and you know there in some ways deeply embedded uh in the American psyche and personal
Decisions that we make uh or don’t make you know have real consequences on the world nature how it functions and and that’s one of the first places to to really start to understand you know what what’s happening globally there’s lots of messages around what’s Happ happening um but sometimes it’s
Difficult to understand you know what what an individual person can do or what even what an individual organization can do we are so that the core problem is that we are quite literally and and this is not an emotional message this is just a fact-based message we are literally
Killing the planet uh every time we cut down a forest to build a Housing Development every time we mow the lawn every time we ignore the weeds in our yards or hire a you know a landscaper uh to manage you know whatever piece of land we happen to manage whether it’s
You know an eighth of an acre backyard or 100 Acre corporate campus um when we you know continue our traditional Land Management practices uh we are directly contributing to you know the continued distraction of Nature and and this is something that that we can’t ignore this is a
Message that we can’t hide from uh what we are all doing pretty much all of us doing every day is taking actions that are are working against our own best interests as a as a human species but it’s not just me saying this uh you know a few a few hours on the
Internet you can find wide range of very uh credible reports and Publications you know that are attempting to um you know communicate the the extent of the the damage that we’ve caused so this one is in particular this was published by the world economic Forum so for those business people
You’re you’ll be familiar with this organization it’s very prominent Global uh but a recent report that just came out this uh earlier this year you know had this chart in it um it has a global view but it is basically representing that even just from the 1970s uh our
Planet you know is has suffered from anywhere between 70 to 80% you know the width of the line is standard deviation of bi of biodiversity loss I mean this is massive and and sometimes this is hard to understand because you know we all have Parks you know you can go go
For a drive up in the adex and might think you know what’s what’s the big deal it doesn’t make sense um but as uh as stewards of a planet if you look at all of the activities Across the Nation across the continent and the world this is in fact uh what’s been
Happening over the last 50 years think of it and 70 to 80% loss of biodiversity globally this is stunning and this is a message that people really need to hear um it is a global problem so this is not an East Coast problem it’s not a California problem it’s a problem
Everywhere and and this graphic U shows that the areas that are black these are the relatively relatively untouched areas so this basically where people don’t live so you’ve got the uh the northern latitudes you know Canada and Siberia the rainforest the Sahara Desert the interior of Australia uh people aren’t living there they’re
Not building homes they’re not farming not really doing much ranching so those areas are fairly intact that doesn’t mean they have great biodiversity but they’ve been relatively untouched uh the lighter the color is represents the the extent of biodiversity loss so this is definitely a global problem and one of the things that’s
That’s encouraging is that the you know major media Outlets are are really trying to get the word out not all of them I offer this clip here you know from Al jazer if you’re familiar with them they they focus mostly on on issues you occurring in the
Middle East uh but even they are really trying to get the word out that we are destroying our own home and this is true fact science-based messaging because you can count uh this un study very long-term study you know warns that over a million species are at risk of
Extinction and this is not an exaggeration um but this this problem um of losing nature is is not just a un problem it’s not just a US Government problem you know it’s a personal problem you know we all of us on this call and anyone that might
Listen to this present we are all contributing to this problem by the personal choices that we make uh on or about you know the land that we either own or directly manage all right so who who are we so we’re we’re we’re a company called wild
Lawn um we’re a team of 30 professionals uh we’re colist botanist Educators Growers researchers field workers uh we formed about 20 years ago and and we have just one Mission uh our mission is to help others to heal the planet uh not everyone knows how to do
It uh and it’s not reasonable to expect you know anybody to really know what steps to take uh on their property their own property or properties that they manage as as to what to do um so we are here as a team you know to help others
You know figure out what makes sense for their own properties um that’s what we do um we mostly focus on the Mid-Atlantic uh so that’s Maryland Pennsylvania New York New Jersey uh Connecticut uh we’re really good in this area uh especially in the Hudson Valley there’s a lot of activity right now and
And we’re a major driving force behind that U we do invest quite a bit of our personal time professional time in educating ourselves so we can educate others uh one of the principal tools that we use to do that is is a whole family of of technologies that that we
License out to other organizations um that that help professionals really gain a detailed understanding of what’s happening in the natural world focused mostly on on Plants because plants don’t move you can count them today you can go back in two years and count them again to see what they’re doing so we are
Actively monitoring uh over a thousand locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England and and this this long-term uh monitoring effort research effort has yielded a tremendous number of insights around what plants grow together what environmental factors encourage or discourage particular types of PL um through this long-term study you know
We have directly observed um populations that maybe were plant populations that were maybe healthy 10 years ago are now are now gone uh and for us this is our contribution you know to awareness is that we actually have data that shows that um that the Plant World you know
That all life depends on the plant world is is shrinking very rapidly being replaced by uh invasives and other problems and we do have the largest non-government database of plants and plant communities on these and it just provide you the relevance is it it provides a a fact-based uh framework
For statements that we make about the state of our environment it provides uh a real data Foundation uh for the decisions that we make uh through our consulting or through our actions on on on other people’s land so we’re not just uh dreaming of of a problem uh or
Paring what other people are saying as it relates to the state of our environment we know we have the data and we’ll continue to collect and and share this data and our insights uh in the future okay uh we are we were originally uh born out of uh the needs of state and
Federal agencies to to do the type that do this type of work you know understand you know how do we take it degraded site whether it’s big or small and and turn it into something that’s that’s functioning properly uh US Forest Service and USDA were probably our first
Major clients uh we now have clients you know the major clients uh in our area you know New York DEC nature conservancy Central Park Conservancy and lots of others so we are in bet it um you know at the state and National level uh for you know projects that involve uh upgrading degraded
Sites uh so that that they function you know in a way that protects water quality builds biodiversity builds habitat for um Birds insects mammals life of all kind you know that are disappearing at a repid rate uh Wildland specifically is a is a is a team within the larger team that
Specifically focuses on helping small land owners uh so this can mean uh corporate centers hospitals uh your neighbor your parents even yourself anyone that has a small piece of land you know that is not a candidate for like federal or state government assistance for restoration perspect you know restoration type
Activities um but there’s a but but still the these small land Holdings are you know real opportunities for uh repairing nature repairing how it functions um you know all related to getting Wildlife real established and providing habitat corridors and all of the types of things that we’ve all heard
About uh this is what the wild lung team does uh there is a pathway you know the the science scientific Community believes that there is a pathway uh to recovering from this period that we’re currently in um so this chart broadly U mirrors that first chart around you know loss of
Biodiversity uh the thought is is that if we can socialize and and normalize this concept of the fact that we are all responsible for the loss of biodiversity regionally and globally and if we can all take action whatever action that that we can take uh collectively we can potentially reverse
This trend of biodiversity loss biodiversity for those that don’t know this is just a term that repesents all of the soil microorganisms all the plants all the things that fly and crawl uh and even swim you know in our region that’s biodiversity that’s all the things that are living so there is there
Is a belief that if we all work together and take real action whether a golf course you know County Park your backyard if we all work together towards um reversing biodiversity loss by making new decisions about how we manage our land that we can you know in fact maybe someday you
Know recover from the losses that we’re currently experiencing and this is what Wildland is here to do is to help help everyone understand how to do that on their own land so today’s agenda uh this is uh the slides that follow are oriented towards the towards this small landowner um people that
Maybe have just moved out of the city you know up in the Rockland County or Orange County or any place nearby Westchester um and they perhaps are living in their first uh single family home or or and it’s for people that maybe have upgraded from a you know
A community where they didn’t have to manage their own land uh but now they have their own space u that they you purchased along with their new home and they’re not really quite sure what to do with it uh they hear all kinds of messages from all kinds of directions the radio
News uh nonprofit organization are doing a great job of educating about some of these issues but you know if I’m a homeowner who just moved into a new house in Rockland County what am I supposed to do so the slid that follow will will share some of the the things
That you know any any landowner can do and then we’ll get into some some of the more advanced things that become possible later so problems at home uh and these are these are issues that you know are directly relate to residents of Rockland County and the surrounding area uh you know there’s a
Lot of wells in our area up here north of the city and uh groundwater problem drinking water pulling you know water pulled out of the wells um as most of you probably know if you don’t you will learn you know is a is a major issue and it’s not
Just a you know public health or a family health issue you know it ALS you know the the draw down of our of our water supplies in in the ground are affecting you know the environment above ground uh one of the the big things that we’re seeing across the the Mid-Atlantic
And particularly north of the city is as we draw down aquifers uh trees that that were planted you know 100 years ago that relied on access to that groundwater are are suffering so we’re seeing significant issues uh with a variet iy of of trees that we all love pin oaks
Sycamores just a name too um and and this trend will likely they will continue so uh yeah draw down of of uh Wells or of the aquifers through the use of Wells which are unavoidable is a problem and it’s going to create additional problems for for land owners going forward not
Just related to to safety or health and safety but you know in the landscape um there are communities you know not on the East Coast that have been dealing with the lack of water for a long time and a lack of water can come from uh a lot of different Avenues you
Know out Western California this where this is it’s largely driven U by agriculture on the East Coast you know we don’t have a large agricultural sector um but we are we are just at the beginning stages of of experiencing something similar and that is changing rainfall patterns uh and lack of infrastructure
To to manage that rain uh when it does fall then that effect overall for the east coast is that we will and we are getting drier um and that is having a a very significant effect on on on our Landscapes and and how natural systems function in our area then that effect of
That you know being you know the the rampant spread of of invasives throughout our region uh lawn irrigation uh is a solution potential solution to uh loss of water um and changing rainfall patterns in drier Summers but lawn irrigation is is generally considered to be a pretty wasteful
Activity uh right now in the United States this is from a report just a few years ago that 30% of all of our available freshwater usage in the United States is being sprinkled on lawns uh and this is a cultural practice this is a cultural norm that’s been you know
With us for a long time um but as we continue to lose access to our groundwater resources uh or our uh Public Water Resources if it comes from a river you know the question is is lawn irrigation something that we can continue to afford doing U there’s a lot
Of reasons why we irrigate Lawns or even irrigate Landscapes if you’re a school or corporate campus um and it’s often a a Band-Aid uh for you know for decisions that relate to plants in place uh that maybe weren’t made with the with with nature in mind so if you for
Example a new construction site if you have a new home um and you know your contractor laid grass laid sod on you know on the soil uh there’s of usually a good chance that that soil isn’t capable of supporting a lawn by itself uh and irrigation becomes necessary so often
This mismatch between plant and place is is one of the chief reasons why we turn to irrigation you know to support you know plants that don’t belong where they’ve been planted um Lawns actually so we will talk a little bit about lawns uh because we are talking about wild lawn Lawns are
Actually poorly suited for our area uh believe it or not you can ask uh Matt who’s on the call uh who’s a professional you know lawn Builder and maintainer you know they are if if Lawns were left to their own devices they they would not survive our
Region uh we have too much water in the winter too much drought in the summer um they’re very difficult to maintain you know on soils that have not been unimproved that have not been improved so they require usually you know significant chemical and and water inputs you to to maintain you know that
That lawn we all know this um I use this picture here because this clearly shows the difference between you know a lawn that’s being actively managed for health and and Lawns that are not so Lawns by themselves if if just planted and left alone really won’t survive in our area they
Have to be forcibly maintained so we we pay we pay to plant the lawn we pay to maintain the lawn we pay then to suppress that lawn because uh when you irrigate and you and you fertilize you know any plant it’s going to grow robustly so it’s just it’s a very
Interesting uh relationship we have with with Lan but but basically in in today’s economy in today’s world uh you know who has the time to do this um you know a lot of people that we know they’re just so they have better things to do with
Their weekend um in a lot of ways they can’t even afford to to maintain a lawn in a healthy condition so they’re just saying I just need to get rid of it well what else can I do um yeah two out of three North American bird species uh facing
Extinction this is from the otoban society this is fact uh again the major news outlets are starting to pick this up and and try to get the word out that we are we are struggling this was just June of this year we’ll talk a little bit about soils you
Know this is a a big issue for um our Soil Conservation districts and our water quality uh groups so it’s a because it’s a it’s a relatively underd discussed uh topic uh soil quality soil compaction are real things that affect real people and we’ll talk a little bit
About it uh later U but the soil itself um or you know compacted post construction soil soil that has not been improved from the time which in which the the building on it was constructed is probably you know the number one uh reason why we’re having issues with
Managing storm water number one issue with uh plants plants that we want that plants that are good for our neighborhood and environments dying prematurely and it’s also the number one reason why you know we’re all struggling with invasive so much uh the root cause of of those three issues and there’s
Others really actually is is the soil uh and how when these soils were laying on a construction site whether it’s new home or or something else um you know those professionals that install those soils and do the grading and all of that site work you know they are not
Botanists uh they’re not ecologists they’re not Wildlife experts uh they’re very very good at large equipment and moving dirt or soil efficiently um but the state in which it’s left is usually unusable U except for irrigated Turf so it’s um it’s an underd discussed
Topic uh which uh we need as a group to elevate um you know for for the public so they can understand you know what degraded soils is and what kind of negative effects they’re experiencing related to it uh there’s a there is a a movement that is underfoot generally called the a rewilding
Movement where so which is sometimes interpreted as well I’m just GNA stop mowing my lawn and I’m just going to let nature come in and and do its own thing I don’t have time I don’t have money I don’t really care about lawn anyway so I’m just going to let my property go
Wild well this is fundamentally not a viable approach either uh particularly if you live in a region you know that has farmland or other managed lands like golf courses because you know a very even a very small property you know that Harbors uh certain types of weeds can present Real
Threats uh to Natural systems that are nearby parks and preserved land and to Farms so what you do on your land particularly as it relates to weeds and chemical usage too uh does affect your neighbors you know very directly and and this is an issue that is starting to get
Uh quality attention so I’m quoting the headline from a reuter’s article here about how weeds that come in through the Landscaping trade or weeds that come in accidentally um can and do Escape into our Farms and indoor forests and other lightly managed areas and cause pretty significant uh problems so this is
Something that we should be aware of invasive yeah invasive weeds and just weeds in general they they consume vast amounts of time undermine property values and can literally cause damage to your neighbors as properties so weeds and invasives are are a significant problem um to you
As a as a land owner you know and your your community and it’s in everyone’s interest for you to understand what weeds are how to deal with them uh and particularly those that are classified as invasive by the state of New York all right so that’s kind of an overview so
We do have a problem you know globally nationally and in Rockland County and this problem the problems that we just briefly touched on are probably also in your backyard uh we all carry the respon responsibility for doing something you doing nothing or just doing what we’ve always done
Clearly isn’t working if we want to participate in healing the planet improving biodiversity getting pollinators your butterflies your small mammals uh your soil markm all of that living stuff if we want to play a role in helping all of that recover we can all start doing something
Today you know on the properties that we manage you know worrying about what’s happening in the forest or the state parks uh there’s large teams of people that focus on that so you don’t have to worry so much about that there’s there’s a good there are good programs in place
They getting B every year but really what are we doing in the backyard in the front yard um at our corporate centers our hospitals our schools what are we doing there um and what can we do to you know contribute to you know reversing the trend that we’re all experiencing so
Here so for the this is largely for the homeowner this is our best recommendation you know as consultants and practitioners as to what anybody can do uh to participate in this movement to bring Health back uh to our environment so this is our our professional opinion only number one address your weed
Problems we weeds and particularly invasives they they undermine your efforts your property and can negatively affect properties around you so it’s socially even perhaps even morally irresponsible to not be aware of your weeds not be aware of your invasives and to leave them unmanaged um so in our opinion weeds are number
One uh weeds displace the vegetation that are natural Le occurring or and threatened Wildlife need to survive so weeds are just a tremendous problem so that’s step number one learn your weeds if you’re a homeowner moving into a new property learn what they are there’s lots of resources online Conservation District
Um and extension agencies lots of help uh but that’s from an outside the house perspective that’s job number one know what the weeds are and put them under control to the extent that they uh exit from your property altogether and then talk to your neighbors about doing the same so that’s
Number one number two fix problems related to water uh we all require water uh water quality water clean water availability uh for our communities communities that surround us is is extremely important uh with changing with the changing climate which is real uh the biggest effect for us so
Much isn’t temperature locally but it’s the biggest effect for us is changing rainfall patterns so and this is all born out in in data uh where we are getting larger fewer rain events uh the rainfall patterns for uh southern New York are changing rapidly to be more
Similar to what you know Kansas okay the city have have been experiencing for the last 50 years um and this is going to have tremendous effects on water availability clean water availability and uh its access for all people so the the general um recommendation that we’ve all
Heard and will continue to hear is to fix problems related to water on your property and that largely means keeping the water that enters your property whether it’s surface water or coming down FR you keep it on your property it’s in your interest personal interest and it’s uh of interest to your
Neighborhood and your community keep your water on your property and lots of resources uh to figure out how to do that step number three so our recommendation weeds and then weed fix your weeds fix your water problems if you just do those two things you are massively contributing to um you know
Helping to heal the planet but there’s other things you can do too Next Step number three would be take a really hard look at the plants in your property uh very few of us are are botanists you don’t need to be uh but we’re all pretty
Smart you can look you know at your property and and start to get a sense of hey you know what’s what’s doing pretty well and what’s not doing well uh just that simple inspection can really help you start to build in your mind a story about how your your property is functioning uh
Plants that are not working whether it be your lawn or trees or shrubs uh they are indications of a mismatch between you know the plants that have been installed previously and you know the environmental conditions on your yard so they provide really strong Clues and cues as to how your property is
Functioning um and can be very useful for making decisions later step number four we all have Lawns I have Lawns you have Lawns um Lawns are actually pretty good uh within reasons so step number four is would be evaluate how much of a lawn how much of a lawn you really
Need we we argue that Lawns are really important um your neighbors expect to see them we actually like them uh they are fun particularly if they’re wellmaintained but do you really need a lawn everywhere if you if you have a nice house on on two acres yes you have Landscaping
Immediately around the house but the rest of it might be lawn do you really need that two acres of lawn only you can decide that but it would be good to talk to your family talk to your neighbors about lawns are great we like them but
Do I need two acres or or five acres of lwn maybe not um and but what would the Alternatives be there are alternatives and we’ll we’ll talk about that step number five educate yourself so these are not new topics uh and and the solutions for a lot of these
Things that we’re talking about are also not new uh there are plenty of organizations that have been other than ours that have been you know focused on building testing and showing off solutions to some of these problems and you know within you know the New York City Metro
Center there are lots of places to go and and learn from in a classroom setting or to just learn by walking around uh in fact the New York City area is one of the highest concentrations of of efforts to you know demonstrate how to manage land differently than any
Place else in the country so you can educate yourself get out and see examples of what others doing it’s that’s a really important step number six um arguably arguably you know could be step number one for any anybody moving into new property uh but here it’s in reality it’s not the first thing
You would do and that’s start fixing your soils um you can in our experience anyway uh almost completely address your weed and unsightly plant problem address that or dying trees shrubs and Lawn um almost almost completely address uh you know the the objective of keeping all of your rainwater at least on your
Property and lots of other things uh including restoring Wildlife by simply fixing your soils and and there’s a whole process for doing that it’s it’s it’s something that that people can do on their own um but it’s the single biggest investment that anybody can can make you know in their land um
Farmers uh you know their their livelihood survives or you know is completely dependent upon their soils functioning some people might argue that farmers destroy soils um that might or might not be true but one thing that is true is that they are actively managing their soils because if they don’t they
Can’t grow the things that they need to grow for us to eat all right step seven um start replacing whatever plants you do have today you know with better ones um what does better mean uh better sometimes or often means natives although they don’t necessarily have to
Be uh but better plants in in this context are those plants that uh support more Wildlife you know that attract insects uh that support soil microorganisms that bring in birds that just you know that are local fauna you know will consume that’s generally what we mean by better plants the pollen
Nectar the leaves the Twigs plants that animals use are better for nature and addressing biodiversity loss than plants that are not being eaten by Wildlife so how do you know which plants are better from that perspective uh there are no you know published guidelines that are exhaustive
Exhaustive um but a native plant is generally more likely to be more useful than non-native ones so swapping out uh static plants in your yard that were planted sometime in the past that really aren’t playing a role ecologically they might be uh aesthetically pleasing they might be the
Same as your neighbors we all understand that but there are generally going to be plenty of Alternatives you know that can achieve the same aesthetic purpose but actually play a role in helping the heal the planet and then ultimately once you’ve gone through these steps and if
You go through just steps one through S you’ll make a tremendous difference um that you yourself will benefit from and your community uh those that you know make that Journey uh often find themselves here at step number eight where they want to do something dramatic and one of the most common expressions
Of dramatic change uh that we’ve seen is people giving their entire backyards Back To Nature and we’ll show some examples of of what that looks like so that’s your step by step um going to run through the detail slides really quickly um what does keeping water on your
Property mean well managing the water that’s coming off your downspouts uh letting that concentrate in your yard uh creating soggy areas or creating little rivulets you know these are problems for you and they’re problems for other people so those are some you know very easy things to address uh you know the
Your local organizations can provide direct guidance on that um and maintain your rain gens if you have one if you have a stream that runs through your property you know there are some also some some very simple things that you can do just ask for help uh there’s
Plenty of help to help you understand how to keep your water on your property and to keep it clean uh changing existing plants so most of us have inherited at one time or another uh what we like to call landscaper special plants they usually come with a house uh when the house was
Built or they were installed later what we mean by landscaper specials these are generally actually uh invasive plants someplace else in the world you know that look nice and the reason why they’re used so frequently in in traditional Landscaping is that because they’re in that class of invasive plants
They’re usually means they’re extremely durable and they grow really fast so they’re very inexpensive to grow very inexpensive to buy and you can kind of put them any player and they will grow this is the classic definition of an invasive species and our landscape trade and horiculture trade
Uh do have quite a quite a number of what we would call invasive species in their in their product lines and this and these types of plants are what makes it into the home landscape because they are inexpensive and they generally don’t die um so swapping those kinds of plants
Out and our native uh Wildlife generally don’t use them at least not nearly as much as as other plants so starting to swap out these types of plants with other ones um is going to be important Lawns are not evil in fact we think Lawns are great but it’s really just a
Matter of of how much um there are ways to mix wild areas and non- wild areas together in creative ways that the general public quite often finds appealing as opposed to distressing uh that requires some experience with understanding how you know people interpret Landscapes uh there are lots of
Resources for for people that want to explore that you know we’re one of them but there are plenty of others so if you hear messages about oh you have to replace the lawn Lawns are evil technically that’s not true um as long as they are well-maintained um generally
Smaller than what uh they are currently and getting a mix of native and Lawn together you know is highly effective and highly functional and and perfectly acceptable but how much long you know that’s only that’s something that only you can decide and you usually want to do that with your family because
Everyone has to live with these decisions uh invest time in learning uh Brooklyn Botanical Garden which is very close uh Battery Park Garden what they’re doing in Central Park are are pretty pretty outstanding uh there’s new efforts in in the Bronx that are just getting started to try to bring nature
Back to some of the public spaces there uh good organizations focused on that uh lots of resources in New York city so in in the surrounding area so please go out and see that in fact even get to uh sleepy hola Golf Course where there’s a a pretty substantial effort to um move
Away from uh a completely artificial environment to something that’s little bit more natural and and functional uh bringing Wildlife you know into the property so lots of examples just find them and go learn from them fixing soils I will skip over um it’s a fairly large Topic in of itself and
Here’s just an image of someone starting this process on one acre for a private landowner replacing plants uh this is probably one of the major roadblocks to uh homeowners property owners landman es of all types from actively participating in in addressing environmental issues biodiversity loss collapse of birds and
Pollinators because the plants that provide those Services they look different they look different from they look very different from the plants that most of us grew up with you know from your Mar Golds to your Barberry to your boxwoods and use you know these are those plants are very successful
They’re very attractive uh we all grew up with them and we all have them at home in one form or another and just over time those have become associated with normal Landscapes however dysfunctional or damaging some of them might be so swapping those plants with plants that we personally
Are not familiar with or our neighbors or our HOA or communities not familiar with this is risky um and you know it can yeah it’s just it’s just risky um so starting to explore what works and what doesn’t work what you like what’s acceptable for your community what works
Together uh this is uh an unavoidable process uh fortunately for most people you know there are early adopters somewhere in the community that has started this process of exploring which plants will work better but still be acceptable aesthetically uh are there you just need to find them you can get professional
Help on on sorting through this but replacing plants that from the garden center with with plants that come from someplace else uh the this someplace else I’m referring to uh an entire industry that most people haven’t heard of it’s generically called the uh the native plant industry or the restoration
Nursery industry uh these are it’s a fairly large industry of of people that uh don’t have a don’t have an interface with the general public there are hundreds thousands of other types of plants available other than what you can get through your landscape supplier and bringing that set of plants
You know into public view has been slow um and is something to be approach carefully which is why a lot of people ask for help giving up your backyard is is is a is a major Trend right now particularly with um larger land owners you know that
Might have 5 10 15 Acres uh generally they are a little bit wealthier because they can afford to take risks in their mind and they have the space to take one or two acres out of 10 or 15 and say you know I really don’t use this space
Anyway um my land sker doesn’t like mowing it so let’s take that little space and let’s do something natural with it so this this image in particular is one such example it’s actually a very common example of where you take a piece of your land that you’re really not
Using and you give it back to Nature and this usually is performed you know either in the backyard or in a place where neighbors and your zoning officers can’t see the front yard however is is a completely different animal um front yard treatments of this type that we’re
Talking about soils and different plants and reduced lawn uh front yards have to be approached very carefully uh because this is what everyone sees uh it’s the the landscape that people will associate with you so if something is tall and weedy uh or has too much diversity Too
Many Colors and height you know people will make assumptions about you uh or your family and you know this is something to be aware of so that if you are one of those types of people that really wants to take their responsibility for nature seriously and wants to do something different in the
Front yard other than a traditional lawn uh our Council would be to again approach this very very carefully um Lawns are still recommending we still recommend Lawns for the front yard situation or any public facing space uh but a native lawn native Lawns are very challenging uh but they can be done uh
They still need a fair amount of Maintenance you know regular trimming definitely not every week but three four times uh maybe a year and a little bit of weeding so there is no such thing as a low maintenance or no maintenance low care lawn of any kind uh and Native
Lawns are no exception however the the big difference is between a number of large differences between native Lawns and non-native Lawns native Lawns can and and do get used actually by Wildlife uh and they generally require fewer hours and fewer dollars of Maintenance it’s never zero um but they are a very viable
Alternative um of which we have made examples but the key message here is for front yards or public facing situations you can do something to to make them better um but please be very careful and and ask for help and that’s the end of the the
Messaging what I’d like to do with these few remaining slides is just show in a real example of how uh real people that have real properties you know they’re relatively small have you know embraced this concept of taking action to you know convert you know a piece in some
Cases few cases their entire property from a traditional Shrubbery non-native Shrubbery Moon lawn environment to something that is quite different different um there are no necessarily uh common recipes per se you know everyone’s property will function differently they have different light they have different weeds soils are definitely going to be different
Rain moisture patterns in the soils are very different so there’s no such thing as you know a new you know American landscape from an aesthetic standpoint uh but there is a there is a valid concept of the new American landscape concept where we are encouraging usually native plants that support you know
Native insects and birds and others animals to flourish and be more or less self-sustaining uh so that’s the new American landscape concept uh so these slides will just show off uh you know just some some images of of what that that looks like in different context
Most of which are are right in and around New York City somewhere a little bit further there’s a couple of uh non-residential properties which I’ll highlight so this is a uh this is a property just of less than five miles out of New York city where the uh the land owner did not
Want to hear their landscaper show up on their property you know every seven days with their Mot and blowers uh you know they valued their peace and quiet a little bit too too much so they invested in the establishment of a of a wild lawn
As you can see here you know that just gets mooned twice a year these are native plants uh this is a client uh in Princeton uh two professors uh at the University married with small children who also they just wanted to give up on the uh you know the landscape noise and
The chemicals and the constant intrusion by by contractors onto their property you know they wanted the property to be theirs they wanted their property to be something that their kids could you know maybe you know explore and learn from so they you know right in the heart of
Princeton uh they wanted something that was actually natural uh and this is just what it happened to be for them another client that decided to to fully adopt the concept of swapping out non-native vegetation uh with natives there’s you can make an attempt at artistic uh expression uh with these
Types of of projects uh but there’s almost always going to be some sense of wildness naturalness you know to this this aesthetic is highly appealing for some and and not for others uh there’s no right or wrong with that that’s a personal choice but uh this is this image represents an attempt
To um use natural plants that actually function in the environment in a way that uh Neighbors which who have very traditional Landscapes you know might accept uh this is a native and natural system in Brooklyn uh you know that we did several years ago this on top of a movie
Theater uh the the manager of the building needed to re roof the entire facility but didn’t want something unnatural uh so he approached us and and a lenscap Architecture Firm to figure out how to actually get native plants uh you know in use you know right
There in in Brooklyn on a fairly large scale this is just one small piece of a large complex and you know this lawn and this is a lawn of a different type it is highly functional biologically just another example of functional plants in this case they’re they are native plants but they’re functional
Plants so these are plants that are actually used by Wildlife very regularly um but used in a way that that might be you know aesthetically acceptable by the general public this is another wild line in this particular case this client decided not to follow our recommendations and they
Didn’t low it so it stands at about you know nine inches tall and another homeowner that you know didn’t have a lot of space you know to devote to to Wildlife except for this little this little pocket uh and and work very hard to remove the weeds and
And and get um again native plants in this case you know well established uh to the extent that you know very little effort is required to keep it in this condition yet you a significant amount of wildlife attraction occurring um here’s a mix of uh Concepts uh we have natural
Systems combined with with uh normal Landscaping features uh this is actually a a commercial you know setting a lot of employees in and out uh that used to be Barron lawn and some Evergreen Shrubbery that was uh you know converted to U in this case basically a main maintenance-free set of plants that
Suppress Weeds on their own require no ongoing maintenance um and and bring real Wildlife you know right right up to the the front door of the facility uh this is an image of a of a native lawn system uh that wild lawn installed at the T building in Queens
And it’s in its second or third year of establishment the the building owner property owner did not want lawn specifically because he wanted to create a uh a healthy environment for the residents and didn’t want the expense and the noise of having contractors on the property constantly so they they
Hired wild laon to uh create a in this case what uh we would term you know a a fa simile of a Long Island sand plane see these are native plants they bring in Wildlife but don’t have to be moan maybe once maybe twice a year you know to keep it
Looking not wild um this is in Queens and it can be looked at it’s a public setting uh this image is of a of an eighth of an acre rain Garden you know so there’s a there’s a rain Garden embedded in there but you can’t see the
Rain Garden you know the uh the capacity of the rain Garden was uh executed through improved soils and and other features so is is an eighth of an acre rain Garden that you cannot see and it supports a very healthy vegetation system which Wildlife actually uses uh that the homeowner actually enjoys
Instead of despises so it is possible color combinations are ephemeral um and generally not objective although they can be very useful in the short term another natural system implementation this image was a a backyard uh just north of the city in the think in Orange County
Where like a half an acre was just filled with uh invasive Leeds you know almost the who who of invasives and and this property owner wanted to reclaim that part of their property because it represented substantial part of their overall property uh but not just to put
It in one they wanted that back part of their yard uh to be natural um you know to host native plants and to host you know native insects uh they did enjoy Birds quite a bit and they wanted to bring you know Birds into their backyard so that
They could view them from their in the house uh so that’s what so this is the end result of of what that process looks like is it weedy maybe uh it might be weedy looking um but this is a naturalized like a completely naturalized uh system where the
Objective was to use plants that work native plants only but use plants that work for wildlife as opposed to choosing species that work for the neighbors and I think I’ve droned on long enough um so we’ve covered a range of topics very briefly uh what the
Urgent need is which is to for all of us all of us everyone uh that has land or manages land to to take actions U make new decisions that are oriented towards restoring health uh we talked about you know some simple steps that a new homeowner uh someone that moves to new
Property or someone that buys into a house for the first time you know eight eight steps that they can take you know in order you know to participate in this movement and um provided some potentially inspirational images so with that I will stop talking appreciate everyone listening
And I will also stop sharing and if people have questions that would be a great time to answer them okay Mark great thanks very much very interesting um hey I I think right off the bat my question that I’ve got uh and probably one that uh everybody’s walks into the
Home Depots to buy a plant or or the local nursery and asks what about the deer are the deer going to eat it so what’s what’s your recommendations for trying to live with Bambi yeah that’s a that’s a great one so uh so yeah when it basically doesn’t
Matter what plant you plant like what what single plant you plant in your yard you know bird or um rabbits groundhogs deer and VES and other Critters they will come to that one plant and they will taste it to see if they like it that’s unavoidable and that will happen to you
And to us and to everyone else but there there are things that you can do to address that one is to plant an abundance of plants in in a place uh I showed one image where if you have so many plants if you rewi in area and there are literally thousands of
Plants it doesn’t matter if if a deer come and browse because they can’t affect that overall planting and in most cases you can’t even tell that they did so if you’re planting one or two or just 10 plants you know in a in a limited manner you will notice every time a deer
Comes to to browse that plant but if you plant thousands which is not expensive to do um Wildlife will come and they will use those plants that’s the purpose of those plants but in most cases you can’t tell that they were even there uh in extreme cases uh there are techniques for um
Preventing that uh the most effective is a deer fence um there are new products on the market there are deer repellants that are electronic you know they are battery or solar operated that you can distribute to the landscape that that emit sounds that are largely inaudible
To humans that do an excellent job of uh repelling deer even in forests which we’ve used to great effect uh they’re available through um you know a variety of websites the the chemical deterrents generally prove ineffective so so the three strategies for deer that are over
Plant like actually Rew an area so that you can’t tell if they’re being eaten would be one number two use a deer fence many municipalities will require them up or will support them up to a point uh number three in our opinion there are electronic deterrents that have proven effective but chemicals are
Not great yeah I like the idea over plan thing does anybody else have any questions for Mark other uh Mark when you for the average homeowner too or are somebody wants to go and and do a a wild lwn you certainly can’t pictures that you showed
I don’t think you can go by side of that so is that is is an area that needs to be prepped and then SE some type of seed that you use is what’s the did you use just uh grasses or grass-like plants that don’t grow tall yeah for for wild
LS uh one of the the first steps is to remove you know the problematic lawn so if you have a healthy lawn that you don’t have to move very often and you’re not spending a lot of time and money on it then we would we might even recommend
That you keep that lawn but but few of us have lawns in that condition you know most most people have Lawns that you know don’t look great unless they’re actively um are very actively being managed and those are what are good candidates for wild Lun because that
Usually so if your lawn is struggling that usually means you don’t have great conditions for lawn and that also then usually means that there are going to be it’s a problematic site it’s too shady it’s too wet it’s too dry those are the two those are the three common scenarios
And if you have something that’s too wet or too shady or too dry for a normal lawn there is generally an outstanding set of of native plants that will actually find those conditions highly favorable so the wild lawn process basically is finding underperforming Lawns and removing you know the lawn
That isn’t working there and just introducing a new lawn type that will and those lawn types you know are very site specific but do in do include the use of native grasses and sges and you know there are very short uh Native flowers that can be moan once or twice a
Year that all work together to create a mosaic that is generally acceptable uh that does not require a tremendous a tremendous amount of Maintenance or inputs but yeah grasses edges and small flowers are are available fancy talk okay I like I like the idea that you youve talked a a little bit about
Flooding in the sense of keeping your water on the property I think as far as water quality is concerned sometimes we forget about flooding and that actually is probably the number one cause of oh deterior deteriorating water and um erosion and all all of this all of
That that comes from from flooding so sometimes we we worry or Focus so much on nutrients and and pesticides and that kind of thing when and actually flooding and preventing flooding slowing the water down before it hits the streams is is critical so looking at your pictures too
Mark can you give us an idea certainly one of the one of the benefits of sad and and us being humans that are so used to pushing a button and getting our dinners delivered in 15 minutes I mean sad is quick how long does it take if if we
Wanted to do a wild lawn is how long would it would it take before it actually looked like something but it looked looked good yeah so uh nothing beats sod Matt um you know unfortun yeah sod is is is a wonderful human invention uh you can lay sod in a parking lot and
As long as you irrigate it it will grow just fine uh that’s you know there is no better cost-effective solution to covering be ground than than buying an irrigating so and there there is nothing that that we have or anyone else has that competes with that um so wild Lawns or rewilding you
Know giving part of your property Back To Nature is an investment uh there there’s no way for us as a as a community to reverse the damage that we’ve caused for free even our governments have limited funds they can’t pay for everyone to do
This so you know we will need to make an investment all of us and some of us are already uh so it does cost money uh to to take these actions to answer your question about wild lawn it depends on how large um on how large the the wild La is
For for areas up to an eighth of an acre which is decent sized uh those LS can a wild L of that size can almost be delivered um in its final looking state in about a week or two uh because those you know the plants can be pregrown you know we have a
Nursery obviously uh there are lots of nurseries but these types of plants can be pregrown and installed to small small plants that are no larger than your thumb you know three to six inches apart it does require people it does require some soil work being performed it does
Require you know having a fair number of people on your property and those plants being planted one by one uh but it can deliver you know a really acceptable result in in a week or two uh where it looks like it’s been you know in place
For many years in as little as three months but that’s only suitable for small spaces um the cost of that becomes prohibitive anything larger than when it than e of vinegre for larger areas these are seated just like we all knew how to do so just like you would seed a a
Normal lawn that emerges in a week or less uh a wild lawn can take six to eight weeks for it to emerge uh and this is this is problematic for highly visible areas um but there are you know like any Meadow system you can include uh rapidly germinating species that will
Get shadeed out over time but it’s it’s a long much longer process to establish a a native lawn than it is a non native line from SE in particular it’s much more akin to establishing a warm season grass Meadow yeah okay yeah you kind of you kind of uh
Defer your maintenance I guess would be a way of putting it you kind of if you’re going to do a regular good oldfashioned I’ll say American lawn you’re going to you’re going to reap the benefits quick and easy let’s say without as many inputs but long term you’re going to be as you
Said mowing every week and watering whereas once your wild lawn although it may take and you may put your initial investment up front you’ll you’ll reap the benefits years down the road when you’ve got less less maintenance and less inputs yeah and that’s yes and and professional people you know know this
Because this concept is all around us if you build a high quality Road or high quality Bridge yes it’s quite expensive but it will last you 30 to 50 years if you build if you install inexpensive Road surfaces you know then you’re replacing them in two years so you know real
Landscapes are exactly the same um if you if you don’t have funds and you just need to do something quick and have it now uh there are lots of options that’s the landscape industry you know and and they have a great set of products and services that allows you to achieve a
Result today um but those those types of results we have demonstrated not us but scientific Community has demonstrated are are ineffective long term and and costing Society quite a bit of money so it will require investment to to shift to a new a new method of Landscape
Management but the benefits and and of reduced maintenance are clearly there uh municipalities that have you know tested this concept in limited ways on say smaller or less visible Parks have been generally hugely encouraged um by the prospect of you know having an acceptable space you know acceptable for the general public but
Also do visibly and countably you know bring in Birds pollinators butterflies those things that the public is aware of um and through reduced maintenance so uh these early municipalities that have been triing these have had generally very good uh results and are looking for ways to to expand this method more broadly
It’s it’s hopefully I mean kind of as your talk shows hopefully it’s it’s something the definitely is the future because we definitely have to do something hey I just one last question I got sure um is leaves how do the if you’ve got will these Lawns these wild
Lawns get suffocated if they get if if they leaves are falling on them let’s say if they’re underneath a couple trees or how would you how you handle leaves on a wild lawn it very much depends on the leaves and the situation in a in uh um yeah very much depends but it
Generally not a problem because the you know wildlands uh a Wildland for a space uses plants that are attuned to those spaces so if you’re under Oaks and hickories large leaves that take a long time to degrade well you can’t put any lawn underneath Oaks and hickories be or any wild lawn
Because except for those wild LS that will survive under Oaks and hickies that makes sense so a wild lawn in a oak Hickory system is anyway from an oak Hickory system and therefore leaves don’t need to be removed because that lawn can accommodate those leaves whereas a a a wild lawn that
Might work in a in a full sun you know moist location uh you know that type of wild lawn probably does need the leaves removed but that that wild laon wouldn’t be in an environment where you had a problem with tree leaves anyway so that’s sure I answer your question but
It’s rarely a a problem except in the case if you put you know the wrong wild line in a in a situation where it shouldn’t have been then the leaves can become damaging but it hasn’t been an issue to date okay great that’s a that’s a nice
Feature too that’s one of the one of the leave the leaves has been a big Battle Cry of a lot of people so if we could if you had something that uh would accommodate the leaf fall that that’s that’s a great great Advantage big advantage and that’s an awful lot of
Noise issues with those guys with the blowers isn’t it yeah it certainly is uh okay that’s does anybody else have any any questions for Mark again I want to I want to thank thank you Mark and uh maybe one day if you’re doing something in Rockland County let us know
And maybe we can um at least go see some of your handiwork and see and you could show us firsthand sure I’m sure it would be nice to to see up close and personal exactly how you do your work yeah we have good examples of um like forest and Meadow
And stream related things nearby uh wild laon uh itself really started in Southeastern Pennsylvania but it it’s branching out um quite a bit uh there are a number of uh clients that we do have that aren’t maybe easy for you to visit out of Rockland County but you know there will
Be and and we’ll be happy to share this with you I see Beth’s on the on the call too so maybe uh Rihanna maybe next year we’ve got a field trip uh we’ll hit the road something a little different might be interesting an interesting uh Excursion there is a
Uh if you guys do that with each other there is a since this will be um shared on a website I I won’t mention the location uh but there is a a wonderful example of a naturally occurring wild lawn that is probably only a 40 minute
Drive um from where you guys are along the river it’s um it’s a little East and a little bit north wouldn’t take long but that a that would be a great place and we can lead you on a tour through it but it is a it’s one of the very few non-
Coastal natural wildlands that occurs in Southern New York it’s actually pretty easy to see it functions the way it functions for very specific reasons but it does provide it can provide quite a bit of inspiration to uh help people imagine something different from the traditional lawn if you everyone to go see
That yeah maybe we’ll maybe we’ll take you up on it maybe we’ll we’ll touch base with Beth and maybe we can hit some of best’s Handy work at the same time yeah that sounds that sounds great all right we appreciate you having me on on this uh call today I hope I
Touched on things that were relevant U to folks and feel free to reach out anytime with questions great great thanks Mar thanks again all right I’m gonna drop off then okay all right bye bye thank you