A guide to converting your lawn into a wildlife friendly garden
Converting lawns into wildlife-friendly gardens can help mitigate environmental impacts and support local ecosystems. By replacing turfgrass with native plants, homeowners can create habitats for pollinators and other wildlife. This shift is particularly important as North America faces significant declines in bird and butterfly populations.
- ▪Lawns in the U.S. cover about 40 million acres, contributing to environmental pollution.
- ▪Gas-powered yard equipment emits 30 million tons of air pollutants annually.
- ▪Replacing lawns with native plant gardens can create more habitat than major national parks combined.
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A guide to converting your lawn into a wildlife friendly garden May 21, 20265:00 AM ET By Celia Llopis-Jensen Three years ago, this garden near the Kansas City metro area was a lawn. Now it's full of Midwest native plants — like the Ohio spiderwort and mountain mint pictured here —that attract plenty of pollinators. Celia Llopis-Jepsen/KCUR hide caption toggle caption Celia Llopis-Jepsen/KCUR NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about how communities are moving forward on climate solutions despite significant political headwinds. As the federal government halts plans to address climate change, states, cities, regions, and even neighborhoods are trying to fill the gap by cutting climate pollution and adapting to extreme weather.
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