Kirkland Habitat 2025 Fall NewsletterDear Kindred Community, Please Vote. Legislators are aware of the power you wield as a voter and every vote counts. Vote to make communities healthier and safer for people, for wildlife, and for the environment. Every yard, open space, flowerbed, and piece of natural habitat can help. |
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Quality of life includes birdsong and butterflies, together with the plants that feed and shelter them. These and myriads of other life forms need healthy, connected habitat throughout Kirkland. They don't have a vote, so it's up to us to speak for them.
Butterflies are often associated with warm, sunny days. Have you wondered where they go in winter? The answer is right underfoot. Butterflies and moths often overwinter in fallen leaves as caterpillars, chrysalises, or even in their adult forms, depending on the species. According to the National Wildlife Federation, when leaves are raked into a yard waste bag, up to 45% of a yard's butterflies are thrown away! And what about all the other species of tiny wildlife killed?
Leaf litter is important for beneficial wildlife species as they prepare for and survive the cold season. You can help by raking fallen leaves into flowerbeds and around trees. You can build a layer up to five inches deep.
Fallen leaves allow shelter for many overwintering critters, including insects and amphibians. Birds forage among and under the leaves for worms and larvae. Weeds are suppressed and soil receives nutrients from decomposing leaves. All good!
Even better, also leave old stems to shelter small overwintering critters, and leave seedheads for bird food.
We don't always appreciate how helpful it is to cultivate a messier look to our yards. The manicured yard is OUT; the natural yard is IN!
This article is provided by guest contributor Karen Story who is a strong supporter of Kirkland's Community Wildlife Habitat Program. Karen is a Green Kirkland Steward who leads forest restoration at Cotton Hill Park. She is a long-time Kirkland community builder, including chairing the Highlands Neighborhood Association for many years. Karen advocates for just and sustainable policies.
Gas-powered leaf blowers are noisy, toxic, and highly polluting. They are bad for workers, our communities, our climate, and yes, they are harmful to wildlife and their habitat.
The powerful blasts of air from leaf blowers physically displace and kill insects and pollinators, disrupt critical habitats for amphibians and small mammals who shelter, nest, or feed in leaf litter, and spread harmful pollutants into the air and soil. The high-decibel noise makes it difficult for birds and other species to communicate.
Using a gas leaf blower for just an hour produces as much smog-forming pollution as driving a Camry 1,100 miles. These incomplete-combustion, two-cycle engines also emit 23 times as much carbon monoxide and 300 times as much non-methane hydrocarbons as a Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Landscape workers often lack health insurance and are afraid to complain for fear of losing their jobs. Yet they routinely suffer from the effects of inhalation and exposure to toxic compounds such as benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter. These cause nausea, headaches, eye infections, dizziness, heart disease, and cancer. Not to mention the hearing damage from exposure to decibel levels that exceed World Health Organization standards. Typical savings when switching to a battery blower is over $1,000 a year in fuel alone, so the cost of a new blower is paid back quickly.
Many jurisdictions have already banned or restricted these obsolete machines. It's time for our local leaders to do the same.
What can you do?
The optimal food for wildlife of all sizes, large and small, is best provided by healthy native habitat because that is what they are adapted for.
Healthy habitat is what our Kirkland Habitat group promotes, in both public natural areas/open space and on private land. Owners of well over 240 properties in Kirkland that are already certified as wildlife friendly agree with us.
Guidance on wildlife feeding from Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife:
Temperatures are dropping, and winter will soon be here. Some may take this as their cue to stock up on groceries to feed local wildlife. Please don't.
We get it: wildlife can be very cute. They look at you with those puppy-dog eyes, and you may be convinced that they need your apples, peanuts, or other snacks. But they are not puppy dogs, and they don't need us to feed them.
"Why not?" you ask.
For many reasons:
Further guidelines from the City of Kirkland:
Allowing wildlife easy access to food leads to problems for both the wildlife and residents. Following some simple guidelines to cut off food sources will help reduce or avoid confrontations:
A quote from King County's Environmental Health Division: "If you're feeding birds, you're feeding rats".
My Kirkland neighborhood has an ongoing and serious rodent problem. The likely cause has been identified as the artificial feeding of wildlife, including raccoons, invasive Eastern grey squirrels, crows, pigeons, and by excessive numbers of birdseed feeders. Neighbors surrounding the feeding properties have experienced costly property damage to their homes and yards. The resulting animosity towards those neighbors who feed, and who are reluctant or opposed to stop, is unpleasant. Please, please explain to people who feed wildlife that they cause problems for wildlife and people.
The best way to show appreciation for wildlife is to help them to stay wild!
Habitat happens all year. What we do with fallen leaves in the fall can have huge impacts on wildlife in the spring. Thank you for doing your part to help wildlife that depend on leaf habitat to thrive.
If you didn't listen earlier, or want to hear it again, here's Karen Story's song about leaf blowers:
The Sound of Blowers. Feel free to like it on YouTube, and share it widely. Thank you, our multi-talented Karen!
Happy Halloween, without fake cobwebs that trap birds and other critters.
Your friendly community supporters,
Kirkland Community Wildlife Habitat Team (Kirkland Habitat)
Sharon Rodman with Aly, Ann, Ash, Marilee, Meredith, Sally
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Kirkland's Community Wildlife Habitat Program strives for each person
to make our community healthier for people and wildlife.
We encourage residents to certify their properties to show support for
wildlife-friendly activities: https://www.nwf.org/certifiedwildlifehabitat. Save 10% if you certify and purchase a sign this October. Promo Code: FALL10.
Appreciating and enhancing habitat in Kirkland, which is situated on the
ancestral, unceded land of the Puget Sound Salish people; we
acknowledge and honor the land with gratitude.
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