Book Sings Praises of Native Plants for Wildlife

As I slog through my electronic nightmare, I've been trying to get in some non-computer reading. While I have gotten a break from high tech, I haven't gotten a respite from discouraging information on the environmental front. According to a new book I'm reading, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife In Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy, only 3 to 5 percent of land in this country remains intact as habitat for plants and animals. Research has shown a 1:1 correlation between habitat loss and species extinction--suggesting a potential loss of over 95% of plant and animal species native to this country. If we don't find a way to provide adequate habitat for wildlife, we will loose the majority of species that exist today. Where there are now hundreds of plants and animals in danger of extinction in the United States, there will be thousands lost forever. Tallamy doesn't say how much time we have to turn things around, but he believes that gardeners can have a major role in whether we will be able to sustain the natural world in any recognizable form.

His premise is that native plants are by far more efficient in providing biomass to support the food chain that exists in nature than plants brought in from outside their native range, such as plants used in ornamental horticulture and food crops. As an entomologist, he knows that native flora supports native fauna and because plants and animals evolved together, most of the animals (mainly arthropods) cannot feed on these alien plants. He states that over ninety percent of animal species are specialists--leaving only ten percent able to feed on more than a few species of plants. Without the native plants to support wildlife, they will disappear--forever.

So what if we loose the majority of creepy-crawlies? Few humans would be upset by the loss of roaches, mosquitoes,and pill bugs. But those aren't the ones that would be lost because they are generalists that have adapted to life with humans. Instead, it means we loose all those specialists that feed on those creepy-crawly specialists--moving on up the food chain to the "charismatic animals" that we would miss,such as panda bears and zebras and bald eagles. Its the diversity of animal and plant life that keeps natural services--the ability to cleanse air, water and waste products--intact.

Tallamy's solution to diminished habitat is for gardeners to plant natives. This would be a positive move toward sustainability, but alone it won't come close to solving the problems associated with loss of habitat. Urban land use only accounts for 2.6% of the total 2.3 billion acres in the entire US. Adding rural residential to urban use brings the total potential area to only 7% of total acreage. Grazing accounts for 35% of all land use and two thirds of all agricultural use. Wildlife would be far better served if we drastically reduced our consumption of meat (my apologies to my ranching friends)and/or restored marginal agricultural land to support native wildlife. I do believe we need to make our landscapes productive and sustainable. Our goal should be to use land in a way that supports as many species as possible.

Bringing Nature Home does a good job of educating about the importance of arthropods and plants to the health of humans and the planet, but the information provided about wildlife and plants has a decidedly eastern US slant. Most of the horticultural information is based on the author's home turf in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and there is no information specific to the Rocky Mountain Region. But I recommend reading the book for it's eye-opening information on the state of habitat in this country--probably best borrowed from the library (it's the sustainable thing to do).