Native plants are crucial to supporting wildlife because animals have evolved over thousands of years to make use of the plants that occur naturally in their environment. Photo: Lisa Wang
By Rev. Canon Lisa Wang
OUR DIOCESE is located in the heart of “Carolinian Canada”, an area between Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Lake Huron. While the Carolinian Life Zone is home to the greatest number of plant and animal species in Canada, it also has the least amount of protected land and the highest number of endangered species.
Arriving here eight years ago, we found ourselves surrounded by empty lawns and a barren landscape. We wondered what we could do for hungry, displaced wildlife, God’s creatures. We wondered what we could do to make reparation for how the land, God’s creation, was being treated all around us.
The first thing we did was to visit our local conservation authority. Through their native tree planting program, we obtained hundreds of tiny seedlings of many different Carolinian trees and shrubs, and planted them all around the house. Then, when a neighbour saw what we were doing, he brought us even more! Each year, we added a little: trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and prairie grasses from local native plant nurseries. Many of the trees have now reached fifteen feet; the shrubs have formed an impenetrable wall; the wildflowers and grasses are thriving.
And so is the wildlife. When we first arrived, there was one single, lonely firefly in a silent expanse of barren lawn. Now, there is a festival of light and sound! Night and day we delight in the splendour of butterflies, moths, fireflies, and dragonflies; the chorus of birds, frogs, toads, crickets, and grasshoppers; the sight and scent of colourful prairie wildflowers: each creature a revelation of God. We host an astonishing variety of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, including several endangered species. God’s creation is flourishing here, and we are surrounded by life and beauty, all because of native plants.
Native plants are those that occur in an area naturally, rather than those that have been imported by humans. Native plants are crucial to supporting wildlife because animals have evolved over thousands of years to make use of the plants that occur naturally in their environment. This is why, as scientists such as E.O. Wilson have shown, the key to our planet’s survival is native biodiversity. Yet in the area encompassed by our diocese, human activity has left almost no such diversity: less than 2.5% of our landscape is protected.
Believe it or not, there is Good News in all this! With so little of our land being protected, the vast majority (95%) is privately owned. According to entomologist-ecologist Douglas Tallamy, “If we planted native on 50% of this private land we would restore biodiversity.” That means the ability to make a difference is not in the hands of governments or institutions, but in our hands. Wherever we live, work, play, learn, and worship, we can plant. On a patio or balcony, we can plant! Even just one native wildflower is better than nothing at all, to a hungry creature of God.
Planting native is an essential part of creation care which, as our diocesan plan Turning to Grace reminds us, is part of being a Just Church. It’s also simply worth it. Nothing could be more rewarding than beholding the beauty of the Creator reflected in the creation, when it is allowed to be as it was intended to be.
An empty lawn could never compare to this. And all it takes is 50%!
Rev. Canon Dr. Lisa Wang is Developer for Catechumenal Ministries, Diocese of Huron.