How To Help Your Insect Neighbors

Image: a beetle covered in pollen, found on a hike at grey rock

It's no secret that insects are struggling right now with climate changes, increasing habitat loss, and hostile human neighborhoods of monoculture lawns and pesticides. Simple changes can help give your local native insects a place to thrive. 

If you have a lawn, consider making a native plant garden, these can provide essential host plants and food to native insects. Adding hiding places like logs, insect hotels, or rockscapes can also provide hides for insects and logs can also help fertilize your soil as they break down over time. Plus, who doesn't enjoy flipping over a good log and seeing whose underneath? Many insects also overwinter not just under logs but underneath leaf litter, where they can be insulated from the winter weather. Leave your leaves if you can, and if you cannot, see if there is a portion of your yard or a garden bed you can leave your leaves in to provide this vital overwintering space for your local insects. If you don't have a yard, fear not, as an apartent dweller you can convert your windowsills and stoop into pit stops for local pollinators. Pick up a wildflower seed pack at a local nursury (make sure they are wildflowers native to your state and not a generic blend!) or search online stores for wildflower mixes native to your area and set up your very own pollinator pit stop. If you're local to Fort Collins, I have found packets of Colorado wildflower seeds at our local nursuries that have thrived in planters out front of my apartment. Plus, a thriving planter outside your window or front door can be a lovely thing to look at!

This article by Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a lot of good information. I recommend giving it a read to learn more!

If you're interested in reading the study showing the alarming decline of insect biomass, read it here. It can feel bleak, but your insect neighbors need help, and you can help them! Don't kill insects as a first instinct, cup and release if you can, or pick up an bug catcher online to make it easier. I recommend this one from Carson. Insects play a wide variety of vital roles in our ecosystems. Take what steps you can to make the world a more hospitable place for insects and advocate for them where you can! Together we can work to make insect gardens a common addition to neighborhoods, and create a collective stewardship of our local environments.