LEAF PICK UP: Leave some for the bugs and bees

Well soon begins the leaf pickup in Coeur d’Alene and I would ask that some of you leave a few piles in your yards. Overwintering butterflies and beneficial insects need leaf litter to survive.

Our insect population is in trouble from the over use of pesticides and herbicides. I asked a local yard service if the pesticides he was spraying killed honey bees his answer was yes. When I asked him why, if that was the case, why he used it he said, “It is so effective.”

If you imagine the food chain as a pyramid with insects at the bottom and humans (rather arrogantly) at the top, it does not take much to realize that if the base is crumbling the top is in trouble.

As an example I will use this illustration; years ago one could not drive around without the windshield splattered with insects and we all scrubbed of the bug guts. On a trip to Lolo Pass this summer there were almost no splatters on the windshield whether it was day or night. So, if you can leave a few leaf piles.

GREGORY TORLINE

Harrison