Date: 11/9/24 8:04 am From: 'Marta Manildi' via Birders <birders...> Subject: Re: [birders] Native plants, caterpillars, and birds
Thank you so much for this note, Rick, on a really important topic. Native plants are critical in saving insect and bird species, as well as doing all the good they do for soil and water health and climate mitigation. I am currently serving as President of Ann Arbor Wild Ones, “A2WO”. We educate and advocate for replacing turf grass and invasive species in particular, and other non-native species when you get used to the idea, in all yards, business campuses, and public spaces, for just the reasons you summarize so well. Dr. Tallamy teaches and inspires us, and also sits on our national Board of Directors.
A recent local issue that we are engaging with touches the common interests shared by native plant advocates and birders. As some on this list may know already, the University of Michigan is planning a massive campus overhaul that will include a “Campus Connector”. This giant raised monorail is proposed to be routed, in part, through Nichols Arboretum and then across the planted buffer area between Medical Center Drive and Fuller Road. Specifically, the route would enter the Arb at the top of the steep ravine (known to some as School Girls’ Glen) on the west end of the Arb running downhill from the peony garden area. The ravine is a favorite of many bird species, especially during migrations, and the trail above the ravine is naturally a favorite of birders. I am not even sure how to envision the monorail as it is supposed to cross the river (where yesterday I saw a Cormorant sitting on a snag out over the River, slowly flapping his wings, I imagine drying them after a dive). But cross the river it must on this proposed route, and then it would bisect the planted buffer area between the river and Fuller Road, which is also an important respite area for birds.
I mention all this here because it seems to me like an issue that should be of great concern to birders, and I wonder if some partnership might be possible between A2WO and Washtenaw Bird and Nature in opposing this threat to an important urban refuge for birds and humans. The case is made powerfully in a letter from Robert Grese (a founder and former President of Ann Arbor Wild Ones) to President Ono and others, which I attach here. Advocacy might also extend to the City of Ann Arbor, which actually owns the land that is at issue, under some long-ago agreement between the City and the University that I have not yet been able to track down. See https://www.a2gov.org/departments/Parks-Recreation/parks-places/Pages/Arboretum.aspx.
I would be happy to receive comments or ideas, as well as to think more generally about how A2WO might partner with Washtenaw Bird and Nature in spreading the good word on native plants.

Yours truly,
Marta
Marta Manildi
President, Ann Arbor Wild Ones

> On Nov 9, 2024, at 9:29 AM, Neubig, Richard <rneubig...> wrote:
>
> All,
>
> My wife is reading Doug Tallamy’s new book on Oaks. He cites some particularly scary data. I know I’m preaching to the choir but we should all be planting natives and get our friends to do so also.
>
> First in a study (2018) on how non-natives have replaced natives in hedgerows (think honeysuckle), the data are striking. “novel (non-native) hedgerows had 68% fewer caterpillar species, 91% fewer caterpillars, and 96% less caterpillar biomass than native hedgerows.”
>
> Also, in yards with different extents of non-native shrubs and other plants, the viability of bird survival was strikingly related to the fraction of native shrubs – presumably due to the very low food insect mass on non-natives. If a yard had less than 70% natives, Carolina Chickadees had much smaller brood sizes and couldn’t even maintain replacement levels of breeding.
>
> This shows how even modest replacement of native plants by non-natives can have a major impact.
>
> Scary!
> Rick
>
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