Why don't
you cut your lawn?
(It is not a lawn, it is a meadow.)
A few years ago, we had a notice on our front door, to
contact the local code enforcement official.
No knowing for sure, but having an inkling, that it might be about our
"lawn maintenance", I began to prepare.
This would not be a time for my usual stance, up on a
soapbox, disparaging Scott's, and the other corporations, that in the past
century have convinced Americans of the beauty of a monocultural, nature
harming, resource wasting, time consuming lawn. Calm rather than emotion is the tack to take, the local officials
have the power and authority, and we have only our passion for nature. When these cases go to court, they can go
either way, but I fear the town wins more often than not. When a situation like this arises,
compromise, on both sides is perhaps the best outcome to reasonably expect.
With much trepidation, I made the call; sure enough, the
question of the day was why don't you cut your lawn. My response was it is not a lawn; it is a meadow, and a habitat
for wildlife. There was dead silence on
the other end, perhaps this was the first such response.
I politely quoted
statistics, and ever so gently expressed my potential perseverance on a subject
with deep emotions on both sides. The
emissions of a lawnmower are quadruple that of a car [1], contributing
measurably to smog and poor air quality [2], using significant quantities of
water [3].
Our local official, who was more than polite, and
professional, was not impressed. He
expressed his concerns about ticks, and fire hazards. After about 45 minutes, we reached a compromise, the meadow
stays, and a six-foot minimum path around the meadow is maintained, twenty feet
between the house and meadow.
When queried, if this was a complaint from a neighbor, I was
told they are not allowed to tell me if a neighbor complained, but thought my
suggestion of planting evergreens to block the neighbor's view of my unkempt
lawn / meadow was excellent.
This was in the summer of 2007, here we are in 2012, and I
have not heard from local officials since the initial contact.
We have since been certified, with signs posted, by: The
National Wildlife Federation [4], as a certified wildlife habitat, Monarch
Watch [5] as a Monarch waystation, and the North American Butterfly Association
[6] as a certified butterfly garden. This was my wife's idea, and is perhaps the best defense.
Retrospectively, if your plan to make the world a better
place involves tall native grasses and wildflowers, get the signs up
first. Perhaps you could make contact
with the neighbors first, go over your plan, what species you intend to
attract, and why. In the spring of
2009, we were fortunate enough to be included in the local (Allentown Garden
Club) garden tour, which was a wonderful opportunity to share and inform. We have changed bluebird sightings from one,
in a five year period, to generally not being able to be on the porch for an
hour without seeing at least one, with several broods each season from the
nesting boxes and habitat we created.
Butterflies abound, sometimes a half dozen species, with multiples of
each in sight at once. Educate those
around you; emotion is not your ally.
Neighbors may be concerned about their property values, find a happy
compromise that is good for all. Be
calm, be patient, just do it!
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_mower
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn
[3] http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/lawn052104.cfm
[4] http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/certify.cfm?campaignid=WH09HBLU
[5] http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/certify.html
[6] http://www.nababutterfly.com/cert_index.html
John Brandauer jbrandauer@optonline.net 22 AUG 2009 / May 2012
