Bring Back the Bugs

We didn’t like living with insects. Spiders startled us, flying insects smashed themselves against windshields, and ants showed up minutes after we spread the blanket for a picnic.

It turns out, insects did not like living with us, either, and decided to check out. In the last 40 years, insect populations decreased by 45 percent. Just as we started to appreciate that everyone has a place in the choir and the ecosystem. The insects who promote health in agriculture, forests, and plains disappeared along with the ones who bugged us.

The plight of bees gets a lot of attention. The measures we take to help them will benefit other insects, too. Bringing back native plants, ones that evolved with the ecosystem where we live, helps bees, domestic and wild, and their six and eight-legged buddies. Eschewing chemicals helps, too. 

Not everyone can comfortably replace their lawn. People have neighbors with expectations. Some homeowners are governed by HOAs. Renters would seem to have no opportunity to help. But this week I heard of practical suggestions that almost anyone can adopt.

Designate a certain area of yard to native plants. If the neighborhood is strict, a small, inexpensive fence around the native-plant area will signal that the plants are intentional. Many native plants are attractive, and can add to a yard’s beauty. Some plants attract pollinators, but are not native and won’t interact with the animal and plant life around them. 

Some varieties of caterpillars fall from trees, and spend the next phase of their life in vegetation at the base of trees. Trouble is, caterpillars fall onto naked ground. Most yards and all parks have barren circles at the base of trees.

Native species planted around trees invite insects back. To many eyes, the plants bring extra beauty.

Renters or apartment dwellers can offer to adopt a single tree and cultivate plants around it. The expert I heard said most landlords don’t object to a person getting involved with the yard. The same can go for HOAs. A person can start with a single tree, rimming it with plants, and then add more.

Expensive fogging for mosquitoes doesn’t work, but does harm other insects. People can build a mosquito trap in a half-bucket of water, and add an inexpensive mosquito dunk pill, available at hardware stores. 

Some folks resent honeybees. They say the European honeybee has pushed native and wild bees aside.

Those of us who keep honeybees like how useful they are. We love and revere honey, and know that honeybees are vital to fruit trees, berry bushes, vegetable gardens, and nut groves. I see many native bees in the pollinator-friendly flowers I have planted, and the plants also attract butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds.

We can work together to bring back the bugs.