I live in Chatham-Kent where…

I live in Chatham-Kent where there is very little healthy biodiversity left to speak of. Most areas are taken up with human habitation and agriculture. In the spaces left in between, invasive species have displaced our native species plants. This correlates to the rapid decline of beneficial insects and bird populations. Our government should fund a full out effort to eradicate the invasives species and plant native species in their places which would include native trees, native hedgerows and native herbaceous plants.

Invasive species do not perform useful functions in much needed ecological food webs and instead malign our ecosystems. For example very few Lepidoptera larva can feed on invasives species which creates a problematic food shortage for breeding birds.

We have a lot of work to do if we want to restore healthy biodiversity in Chatham-Kent to 30% by 2030 and we need the political will to do it. This means planting native trees, native hedgerows and native herbaceous plants where we can and not just any native trees and plants but the ones that are known to support the most species in ecological food webs, for example an Oak tree supports over 500 species of Lepidoptera.

Its not just about eradication of invasives, it is about planting native species in their place and ensuring funding is there to stay on top of our restoration efforts.

Biodiversity is important everywhere. We should restore it where we live, work and play and we should all make space for nature to thrive and then so will we. We are all stewards of the lands that provide ecosystem services to us humans that help us thrive and we should start behaving in a reciprocal fashion with the land by taking much better care of it.