Keep South Carolina Wild

Category: Gardening

Chapin Goes Green…er

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Written by Cindy Chin.

Published in Chapin Magazine on June 18, 2026:

https://www.chapinmagazine.com/home/2026/6/18/chapin-goes-greener?fbclid=IwY2xjawSzkYJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFIYUpuZDBPekpTMktaWWpYc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHl6HvBhLAbzUY6vFusRdNdgdBp0QTYI9ITbx1e_swe5P06Ktt0SN-QRJ2kBn_aem_urN1NwhEGCP_PFZ-RPykbw

 

Chapin Goes Green...er

 

Chapin Garden Club Strives to turn Chapin into
South Carolina’s Largest Per Capita Community Wildlife Habitat

In 2000, Chapin Garden Club launched two initiatives supported by the Garden Club of South Carolina: a Carolina Fence Garden at the Chamber of Commerce and participation in the Backyard Habitat program. Both programs were a success…  So Chapin Garden Club did what anyone in their position would typically do: moved the goal posts and upped the ante. Twenty six years later, they aim to turn Chapin into the largest per capita Community Wildlife Habitat in the state by 2030. But this time, they need your help…

 

How It Started

From the outset in 2000, CGC’s members embraced the challenges wholeheartedly—every member achieved certified habitat status to do their part in the Backyard Habitat program. The efforts established an enduring club tradition: membership meant maintaining a certified backyard. But what exactly is a “certified” backyard, and why does it matter? A Certified Wildlife Habitat® through the South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF) is a greenspace that provides essential elements for local wildlife: food, water, cover, and places to raise young, while also utilizing sustainable practices such as reduced usage of chemical pesticides, the conservation of water, and a reduction in lawn area. Having these conditions in place helps combat habitat loss by supporting birds, butterflies, and pollinators with native plants.

For members of the Chapin Garden Club in the year 2000, the decision to get their yards certified was an easy one. By 2013, an influx of new members shifted focus temporarily; the yard certification tradition had begun to subside. To reignite interest, Bonnie Porter presented a refresher on habitat certification at the October meeting. Then-president Cindy Chin challenged members to certify their own yards and recruit others to do the same. The effort gained traction through flyers, local media, and community outreach.

 

Photo by Cindy Chin

The club’s commitment aligned with a broader goal—supporting South Carolina’s national leadership in wildlife habitats per capita. With guidance from Sarah Green of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Chapin added 32 new certified habitats by summer 2014. They celebrated with a gathering at Timberlake Country Club.

A pivotal moment came in 2019 when Jay Keck delivered a program on attracting birds and butterflies. His presentation sparked a lasting partnership with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation and deepened the club’s focus on conservation education.

 

Chapin Goes Green

In May 2021, Keck introduced the idea of designating Chapin (ZIP code 29036) as a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat. Recognizing the opportunity, the club launched “Chapin Goes Green” and registered with the National Wildlife Federation in June 2021.

Certification required community education, media engagement, and achieving 225 habitat points through certified properties. The club undertook a coordinated effort that included:

  • Publishing articles on wildlife, native plants, and habitat gardening

  • Hosting workshops, presentations, and an annual Wildlife Trivia Night

  • Partnering with local organizations, schools, churches, and civic groups

  • Securing official support from the mayor, town council, and community associations

A major achievement was the creation of a 70-by-8-foot pollinator garden at Chapin Town Hall, developed in collaboration with multiple partners and supported by a Dominion Energy grant. The club also worked with the South Carolina Bluebird Society to establish a bluebird trail at Town Hall. Since 2021, the Cindy and Ed Chin Bluebird Trail and participating backyards have documented 153 successful fledglings. Additional enhancements included installing an outdoor message center and a bluestone seating wall at Town Hall, offering educational materials and trail maps to visitors.

 

“We are proud to work with our community to protect and connect critical habitats for wildlife.”

— Cindy Chin

Reaching the required number of certified properties proved the most challenging step. Engaging more than 200 property owners, businesses, and institutions required sustained outreach—but the effort succeeded. On February 15, 2024, Chapin was officially designated a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

The community celebrated on June 18, 2024, with a ceremony at Town Hall featuring tours of the pollinator garden and bluebird trail. Mayor Al Koon issued a proclamation recognizing the project’s impact, and state leaders and conservation partners attended. Local students also contributed, creating a video to promote habitat certification.

The project drew inspiration from other successful communities. Kelly Long of the Camellia Garden Club in Greer shared insights from their five-year certification journey, highlighting initiatives such as distributing milkweed seeds to support Monarch butterflies and engaging residents of all ages in conservation.

Today, Chapin has 208 certified properties, including parks, schools, places of worship, government buildings, and private homes. Maintaining certification requires annual renewal, and the Chapin Garden Club remains committed to education, outreach, and expanding participation.

Cindy Chin, who chaired Chapin Goes Green, describes the multi-year effort as a labor of love: “It is an honor and privilege to have Chapin recognized by the National Wildlife Federation. Chapin is now the 161st Community Wildlife Habitat in the U.S., the 14th in South Carolina, and the first in Lexington County. We are proud to work with our community to protect and connect critical habitats for wildlife.”

Through sustained collaboration and grassroots engagement, Chapin Garden Club has created a model for how communities can preserve natural beauty while fostering meaningful connections between people and wildlife. Today they ask: Will you help them?

What is a Community Wildlife Habitat?
It’s Community

The Community Wildlife Habitat is a NWF program that helps communities create sustainable wildlife friendly spaces while engaging residents in conservation and education. They partner with cities, towns, and neighborhoods in urban and suburban areas to incorporate wildlife practice and promote biodiversity in communities across the United States. These practices include using native plants, reducing pesticides, conserving water, and integrating wildlife considerations that support insects, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, birds, etc.. Communities are recognized when property owners such as individual homeowners and businesses, churches, schools, parks, government properties, etc. certify their properties as Certified Wildlife Habitats.

What is a Certified Wildlife Habitat?
It’s Personal

The South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF) was South Carolina’s first conservation group. Established in 1931, it has been safeguarding our state’s wildlife for nearly a century and relies on proven scientific methods to protect and preserve the health of delicate ecosystems. It is the SCWF that administers the Wildlife Habitat program to assist homeowners, businesses, churches, schools, parks, etc. to individually certify habitat.  This requires providing 4 essential elements for wildlife: food, water, cover, and places to raise young plus incorporating some (not all) sustainable gardening practices. These practices can be very small changes that make a big difference and save time and money. Per the SCWF:

  • Stop Using Pesticides
    Yes, they kill the bad critters, but also poison bees and butterflies, birds and other animals whose diet consists of insects. Without pesticides, your flowers and vegetables will pollinate more aggressively -that means more flowers and fruits.

  • Plant Native Plants and Trees
    These plants are already adapted to our climate, and the native wildlife has adapted to these plants. Keystones native trees such as oaks support over 500 species of insects, moths, and butterflies. Native flowers such as goldenrod and asters also support over 100 species of the same. And, we have individual natives such as milk weed which is the only food for our beautiful monarch butterflies. Lastly, natives are generally more drought resistant and easier to grow.

  • Reduce Fertilizer Use
    If you must use fertilizers, be sure to closely follow the directions. Excessive chemical fertilizer will not help your plants any more and will pollute our waterways. You can create your own organic fertilizer by beginning a compost pile.

  • Let One Tenth of Your Yard Grow Wild
    Untouched areas left to their own devices support much healthier ecosystems allowing insects, moth, butterflies, fireflies, bird, etc. to proliferate and thrive.

  • Reduce the Amount of Turf
    Grass is time consuming and expensive, and has no benefit to any wildlife whatsoever. Instead, increase the size and diversity of your flower beds which attracts a diversity of wildlife.

How to Certify Your Yard

Certifying one’s habitat is extremely easy and takes less than 20 minutes. Sign on to the South Carolina Wildlife Federation site and follow the link to certified wildlife habitat.

Certification is a one-time event; there’s no annual renewal. The cost is $25.00 and you can also purchase a sign which identifies your property as a wildlife habitat. Proudly display it where all your friends and neighbors will see it and ask –

“What is this about?” And you can answer, “Well, it’s about:

  • enhancing livability and health in our communities

  • saving wildlife

  • creating beautiful environments for our children and grandchildren

  • educating the public on wildlife conservation and sustainable practices

  • and increasing the economic value of our homes and neighborhoods… “

A Bold New Goal – 2030 Vision

 

There’s so much to gain, and little to lose by certifying your yard. Every individual habitat is the key to maintaining Chapin as a Community Wildlife Habitat. Chapin Garden Club President, Shawn Grover explains, “If Chapin residents do not continue to certify their properties, Chapin will lose this extremely valuable and important designation. That would just be so heartbreaking for our community. But our goal, be it lofty, is to build Chapin into the largest per capita Community Wildlife Habitat in the state by 2030!

Please help the Chapin Garden Club and the whole town by certifying your yard today. For more information about certification, what to plant with purpose, questions, or technical assistance, go to SCWF.org or contact:

Savannah Jordan, Associate Wildlife Biologist®
South Carolina Wildlife Federation
email  savannah@scwf.org
O: 803-256-0670 | M: 864-398-6373

SCWF Partners with South Carolina State Museum to Build New Carolina Fence Garden

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On May 30th, 2026, SCWF helped the South Carolina State Museum install a new Carolina Fence Garden in Columbia, South Carolina. This native garden educates visitors on local wildlife habitats and supports native pollinators. Visitors can find the new Carolina Fence Garden at the museum’s entrance at 301 Gervais St, Columbia, SC.

 

The garden features native plants like goldenrod and wild indigo that will support pollinators, birds, and other wildlife while also connecting visitors to South Carolina’s natural heritage. The Carolina Fence Garden concept is an initiative promoted by SCWF to attract native animals and celebrate the state’s natural history. It incorporates several specific cultural and natural elements such as:

  • A Fence: A traditional split-rail fence serves as the structural anchor.
  • State Symbols: Gardens typically feature the Yellow Jessamine (state flower) and a display of Blue Granite (state stone), both of which create ideal basking and foraging spots for butterflies and bees.
  • Native Plants: The garden utilizes native, local plants that provide food and nesting material for birds, pollinators, and small mammals.
  • Wildlife Housing: A mounted Carolina Wren House often provides dedicated shelter for South Carolina’s state bird.
Thank you to the South Carolina State Museum for partnering with us on their Planting South Carolina Roots initiative and to all of the volunteers who spent their Saturday morning with us to make this possible! We can’t wait to watch this garden grow! Learn more about how to support pollinators and built your own Carolina Fence Garden at: https://www.scwf.org/carolina-fence-gardens/ 

Columbia’s Downtown Pollinator Garden

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By Arlene Marturano

Published in the Columbia Star on May 28, 2026 – https://www.thecolumbiastar.com/articles/columbias-downtown-pollinator-garden/

Volunteers with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF) planted a native plant pollinator garden in their wildlife habitat in front of their downtown office at 1519 Richland Street. As spring transitions to summer, the plants are flowering and fruiting. In a relatively small space there are over 20 species attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The garden also features the four basic wildlife habitat elements: food, water, cover, and places to raise young.

Three natives planted for monarch larvae are swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata; common milkweed, A. syriaca; and butterfly weed, A. tuberosa.

Passionvine, Passiflora incarnata, is deliberately planted in containers to keep it from spreading across the landscape via its underground rhizomatous roots and taking over the garden. The vine hosts the eggs and larvae of gulf fritillary and variegated fritillary butterflies.

A striking blue flowering perennial plant is false indigo, Baptisia australis. Native Americans and early colonists used the flower to produce a blue dye before the Asian indigo, aka true indigo, Indigofera tinctoria, was introduced to America.

False indigo is a host plant to many butterflies such as orange sulphur, clouded sulphur, frosted elfin, eastern tailed blue, hoary edge, and wild indigo duskywing.

Common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is a flower attracting an incredible number of pollinators because of the design of the flower face. The nectar that bees and butterflies need is easy to access on the broad flat flower face making for perfect landing and feeding platforms. Insects can stay still and sip from the many tiny florets. American lady, checkerspots, fritillaries, hairstreaks, skippers, and sulphurs visit yarrow for nectar.

Common St. John’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum, is a host plant to the larvae of the gray hairstreak butterfly. Female azure butterflies lay their eggs on the flower buds and the caterpillars eat the flower parts and developing fruits. The plant also hosts moths like the wavylined emerald, scallop moth, and gray half-spot moth.

Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam,’ Coreopsis verticillata, will start blooming from mid-summer all the way until the first hard frost. Something to consider when planting a pollinator garden is to select a palette of plants for spring, summer, and autumn bloom.

Two varieties of blueberries grow in the pollinator garden: Vacinnium darrowii ‘Rosa’s Blush’ and Vacinnium x Perpetua. Planting blueberries in the garden creates a mutually beneficial relationship between the plants and pollinators. Blueberry flowers provide spring nectar for native bees and the bees perform “buzz pollination” to ensure a large, healthy harvest.

Visit the SCWF downtown pollinator garden to view the entire garden and take home ideas for your landscape.

Published in the Columbia Star on May 28, 2026 – https://www.thecolumbiastar.com/articles/columbias-downtown-pollinator-garden/

SCWF Celebrates Garden for Wildlife Month

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SCWF staff, partners, and volunteers recently joined together to install five pollinator gardens throughout the state – talk about busy bees!

As development increases, the resulting habitat loss is a major challenge that affects many pollinator species in South Carolina. Pollinator gardens provide pollinators and other wildlife with critical habitat that can beautify any space, increase native biodiversity, increase pollination services and biological control of pest insects, and provide community engagement and learning opportunities.

These gardens create and enhance habitat for pollinators and other wildlife by incorporating native flowering plants, which are important sources of food and shelter for bees, butterflies, and countless other species. Native plants are adapted to the region’s climate and require less watering, fertilizer, and use of pesticides. Pollinators also require specific native host plants which provide nutrition and habitat to their larval and adult stages. Milkweed, the host plant for monarch butterflies, was planted in each garden to give the adult females a place to lay their eggs and to provide the caterpillars with a source of food.

 

 

By installing the gardens in public areas, they also serve as demonstration sites to allow community members to connect with imperiled pollinator species and play a part in conservation efforts by replicating the gardens at their own homes. Educational signage was also installed with each garden that displays information about pollinator species, their importance, and how native plant gardens help them.

 

The first garden installation took place at the Museum of York County, where museum staff and volunteers joined to plant a variety of native plant pathways that lead to spaces where nature-themed outdoor musical instruments will be installed late this summer, including a bumblebee, butterfly, firefly, dragonfly, and ladybug. The museum’s garden is also a Certified Wildlife Habitat, which provides natural sources of food, water, cover and places to raise young and is maintained in a sustainable way that incorporates native plants, conserves water, and does not rely on the use of pesticides. The museum received its certification in 2005 and also has created a Carolina Fence Garden.

 

The Catawba Nation is the only federally recognized tribe in South Carolina, and SCWF is honored to partner with the reservation’s Wildlife and Habitat Program on multiple conservation projects, including Project Prothonotary and the Pollinator Garden Project. At the Catawba Nation, reservation staff and volunteers helped to plant a variety of native plants for pollinators at the Cultural Center and at the preschool on the reservation.

 

 

The Catawba Bend Preserve is York County’s newest park, a 1,900-acre preserve in Rock Hill, spanning nearly five miles along the Catawba River. Operated by York County, the preserve offers a serene, natural escape focused on passive outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation. While the preserve is open and walkable, it is designed to be an evolving outdoor destination. Future amenities in various stages of development include mountain biking and disc golf courses, stocked fishing ponds and rebuilt earthen dams, the first mile of a paved, riverfront greenway, primitive tent camping, event spaces, and a motor coach park.

 

Anne Springs Close Greenway is a 2,100-acre nature preserve in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Dedicated in 1995, it protects native forests, lakes, and pastures from urban development, offering the public a natural escape for outdoor recreation and environmental education. The pollinator garden was installed with the help of staff from the Greenway and volunteers with the Catawba Master Naturalist Program, and it is located next to the Greenway’s Forest Playground. Bluestar (Amsonia) was chosen as one of the focal plants to honor the Greenway’s founder, Anne Springs, who was also a prominent South Carolina conservationist, philanthropist, and outdoor advocate.

To learn more about how to create your own pollinator garden, see our webpage for Enhancing Pollinator Habitat and be sure to follow along with us during the month of June, which is National Pollinator Month!

Savannah Jordan, SCWF’s Habitat Education Manager who led the project stated, “Each garden plays such an important role in providing and connecting habitat for pollinators. No matter how large or how small their size, each one makes a difference. To see pollinators like bees and butterflies checking out the plants right after we put them in the ground goes to show that if you plant them, they will come!”

Savannah Jordan, SCWF’s Habitat Education Manager, stands still as a butterfly lands on her hand, almost as if to say “thank you”!

 

SCWF would like to thank Skyline Design and Landscape for their assistance in the design and installation of the garden, as well as providing all the native plants and materials. SCWF is also grateful for the following partners and volunteers for their involvement: Anne Springs Close Greenway, Catawba Master Naturalist & Alumni group, Museum of York County, Catawba Bend Preserve, York County Parks & Rec, Catawba Indian Nation, and Landsford Canal State Park.

 

 

 

 

 

This project was made possible by Duke Energy’s Catawba-Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program.

 

Spring Habitat Workshop

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SCWF and the South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC) hosted a Spring Habitat Workshop on May 6th at Harbison State Forest. During this interactive workshop, participants learned how to create and enhance wildlife habitats by planting native plants, providing a water source, and adding feeders and nest boxes from SCWF Habitat Education Manager Savannah Jordan.
SCFC Environmental Program Manager Matt Schnabel led everyone on a tour of Harbison State Forest’s certified wildlife habitat garden and gave an overview presentation about SCFC. The event ended with a short hike, led by Manchester State Forest Director Daniel Tew, that included stops at three forested stands that show different management objectives and practices to teach people how forestry practices can affect and benefit wildlife populations. Learn more about how to certify your yard here!

Legalizing the Right to Grow Native Plants

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Article by Brianna Randall, National Wildlife Federation

Published March 26th, 2026

https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2026/Spring/Gardening/Native-Plant-Laws

Homeowners and NWF affiliates are fighting to change restrictive local landscaping laws in favor of native plants

Lou Lesesne stands in his Charlotte, North Carolina, front yard (above), which brims with sundrops, coneflowers and other nectar-rich plants that support pollinators such as sweat bees.

FIVE YEARS AGO, when Lou Lesesne moved to a new house in Charlotte, North Carolina, he decided to “get rid of the grass and bring in the pollinators.” Today, his yard boasts expansive beds of ironweed, purple and cutleaf coneflower and other native plants that support native wildlife. “I like to do my part to help the birds and the insects find habitat,” Lesesne says.

This past June, however, Lesesne received a letter from the city of Charlotte warning him he was in violation of a property-maintenance code requiring homeowners to keep nonwoody plants shorter than 12 inches. The city told him to mow down his natural garden or pay a fine of up to $500.

His experience is hardly unique. Across the country, wildlife-friendly gardeners are running afoul of local laws that prioritize “nice, tidy green lawns that are mowed low to the ground,” says Patrick Fitzgerald, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior director of community habitat.

But thanks to advocacy efforts by homeowners like Lesesne—often in collaboration with NWF affiliates—such rules increasingly are being challenged and subsequently repealed or revised. “We’re seeing a lot of momentum to change local landscaping ordinances, especially as more people bump up against rules that don’t allow them to grow native plants,” Fitzgerald says.

Dating back to the early 1900s, municipal property maintenance ordinances are intended to keep neighborhoods looking cared for and neat. The rules often prohibit homeowners from growing nonwoody plants above a certain height, typically 10 to 12 inches. But that requirement stymies the efforts of gardeners who choose natural landscaping. Native plants can grow several feet high—and need to before they can flower and reseed. When mature, some of the ironweeds adorning Lesesne’s yard, for example, can stretch up to 10 feet tall. Allowing such plants to reach their full height provides the pollen, nectar, seeds and other food wildlife need, as well as vertical structure that creates habitat for a variety of species, from insects and birds to reptiles and amphibians.

When Lesesne received his citation, he contacted the North Carolina Wildlife Federation (NCWF), an NWF affiliate, for advice on how to save his native plants. He wasn’t the only one, and NCWF has been happy to help. Changing municipal ordinances to encourage natural landscaping is “commonsense conservation,” says Alden Picard, NCWF’s conservation coordinator, who has fielded dozens of calls, emails and visits from concerned native gardeners like Lesesne. “This is something everyone can get behind. It’s a gardening for wildlife campaign. It’s a campaign to let our milkweed, ironweed and joe-pye weed grow tall, flower and go to seed,” he says.

In July 2025, NCWF joined forces with six other local and state conservation groups to create the Coalition to Protect Our Urban Nature. The coalition successfully rallied residents of Charlotte to submit several hundred comments as well as attend public forums to lobby for exempting native gardens from the city’s vegetation-height requirement

Ed Murray, a Charlotte homeowner with more than 100 native plants in his yard, testified on behalf of the proposed change at a city council meeting in fall 2025. He framed native landscaping as a family issue that benefits children. “We live in a very urban area, so it’s not like you can drive 10 minutes and get a lot of biodiversity. But you can still have a place where your kids go out into the yard and see interesting things,” he says. Murray believes that interacting with the native plants, insects and birds in their yard gives his 4-year-old daughter “a significant leg up in understanding the way the world works.”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles found such testimonies so convincing that, last October, she pledged to exempt native plant gardens from the vegetation-height requirement. This February, the city council approved the change, paving the way for homeowners in the nation’s 14th largest city to create more wildlife-friendly gardens.

Another North Carolina city, Winston-Salem, passed a similar ordinance in 2025. Next up, Murray hopes the Charlotte coalition sets its sights on requiring native plants—and prohibiting the planting of invasive species—on city-owned properties, a policy adopted by Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2024.

In South Carolina, another NWF affiliate, the South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF), also is helping reshape rules in the state capital, Columbia, to help homeowners grow—not mow—native gardens. After hearing complaints that residents were being penalized for growing native plants, SCWF teamed up with the Gills Creek Watershed Association and the South Carolina Native Plant Society Midlands Chapter to lobby the city to change its property maintenance ordinance. In May 2025, Columbia amended its rules so that homeowners certified through a recognized program, such as NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat® program, can register their yard with the city to avoid fines.

“South Carolina is one of the fastest-growing states. It’s more important than ever that we are able to replace some of the habitat that’s removed when new neighborhoods are built,” says Sara Green, SCWF’s executive director. When homeowners re-create lost habitat by planting native gardens, she adds, it benefits at-risk wildlife, including songbirds and native pollinators. Green has received requests from several other NWF affiliates seeking to change their local landscaping rules.

To support such efforts, NWF published the Guide to Passing Wildlife-Friendly Property Maintenance Ordinances in 2021. “The National Wildlife Federation prioritizes landscaping ordinances because they represent a key lever for increasing native plant habitat in communities,” Fitzgerald says, adding that “there’s been a recent groundswell of interest in advancing local policy changes to benefit wildlife.” In the coming year, he says, NWF will survey its affiliates to assess local advocacy efforts underway, including which of them can be replicated elsewhere.

Legalizing protections for wildlife-friendly gardens at the city level “is a much better return on investment than trying to change rules one homeowners association at a time,” Picard says. “It’s time for local government to wake up, to move forward, so that we have monarchs and bumble bees and songbirds in our yards 50 years from now.”

Banner image by Dave Ozric

SCWF EcoLeaders: the future of conservation is here!

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SCWF held an EcoLeaders event at Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia on Monday, July 21st, where youth planted 750 native plants for wildlife habitat, installed a nesting box for Eastern bluebirds, and installed four interpretive signs. From start to finish, this was a youth-led event.

SCWF’s Education Assistant, Mason Eslinger, planned and executed this ambitious project. At age 20, Mason is already making an impact for conservation, and we know that his passion will also inspire other young people to get involved in the stewardship and protection of our natural resources.

 

“It is truly a privilege to find myself in a position that can make such profound impacts on not only the environment, but also on communities. This event in particular carried a different gravity to it, having just become an uncle. Being able to hold the “future generations” that I work so hard for allowed me to utilize my renewed sense of purpose on this project. Thank you to all that made something of this magnitude possible and I look forward to watching that little piece of me prosper at Sesqui!” – Mason Eslinger

 

The native plant garden covers approximately 300 linear feet and will be certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. In addition to helping wildlife, these plants will also serve as carbon storage. Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is a leading cause of climate change and plants are great at taking CO2 out of our atmosphere and storing it in the ground. Click on the “Learn More” button below to see a list of the plants that were planted and how these plants benefit wildlife. The plants for this project were sourced from Charleston Aquatic and Environmental, Creekside Native Grass & Design, and Primitive by Design.

Learn More

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Mason for leading this effort! We would also like to thank staff from Sesquicentennial State Park, the Palmetto Trail, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for assisting with this project. 

 

Thank you to the Bloomberg Philanthropies & the City of Columbia for sponsoring this project!

 

 

SCWF Celebrates Garden for Wildlife Month

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SCWF staff, partners, and volunteers recently joined together to install five pollinator gardens throughout the state – talk about busy bees!

As development increases, the resulting habitat loss is a major challenge that affects many pollinator species in South Carolina. Pollinator gardens provide pollinators with critical habitat that can beautify any space, increase native biodiversity, increase pollination services and biological control of pest insects, and provide community engagement and learning opportunities.

These gardens create and enhance habitat for pollinators and other wildlife by incorporating native flowering plants, which are important sources of food and shelter for bees, butterflies, and countless other species. Native plants are adapted to the region’s climate and require less watering, fertilizer, and use of pesticides. Pollinators also require specific native host plants which provide nutrition and habitat to their larval and adult stages. Milkweed, the host plant for monarch butterflies, was planted in each garden to give the imperiled species a place to lay its eggs and to provide the caterpillars a source of food.

By installing the gardens in public areas, they also serve as demonstration sites to allow community members to connect with imperiled pollinator species and play a part in conservation efforts by replicating the gardens at their own homes. Educational signage was also installed with each garden that displays information about pollinator species, their importance, and how native plant gardens help them.

 

The first garden installation took place at the Lancaster County Library, and volunteers of all ages joined to plant a variety of native plants, including a group of high school students from Lancaster High School’s Agriculture department. The library’s garden is also on its way to becoming a Certified Wildlife Habitat, which provides natural sources of food, water, cover and places to raise young and is maintained in a sustainable way that incorporates native plants, conserves water, and does not rely on the use of pesticides.

 

At Andrew Jackson State Park, park staff and volunteers helped to clean up the existing pollinator garden and planted more native plants. The Friends of Andrew Jackson State Park donated a pollinator house to the park’s garden, which provides nesting sites for pollinators that nest in cavities or burrows.

 

Camp Canaan is located on a 100-acre island along the Catawba River in Rock Hill, and the pictures above show the progression of a bare patch of grass to a brand new garden bed! The camp staff plans to incorporate the new garden into their environmental education program for their youth attending summer camp.

The Catawba Nation is the only federally recognized tribe in South Carolina, and SCWF is honored to partner with the reservation’s Wildlife and Habitat Program on multiple conservation projects, including Project Prothonotary. The pollinator garden was installed just outside the reservation’s food distribution center, which holds a weekly farmer’s market for those who live on the reservation. Juncus, commonly known as rush, is a culturally significant plant that was added into the garden, as well as the endangered Schweinitz’s sunflower.

Sun City Carolina Lakes Community is a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat, and the pollinator garden is just one of the many ways their community is making a difference for wildlife. Visitors enjoy seeing monarch butterflies fluttering around in the garden, and we even spotted an adult monarch laying eggs on the milkweed that was planted years ago! Each garden also received a pollinator waterer, which is made using a shallow terra cotta saucer filled with stones for pollinators and insects to easily crawl out after getting a drink of water or cooling off.

 

 

Savannah Jordan, SCWF’s Habitat Education Manager who led the project stated, “Each garden plays such an important role in providing and connecting habitat for pollinators. No matter how large or how small their size, each one makes a difference. To see pollinators like bees and butterflies checking out the plants right after we put them in the ground goes to show that if you plant them, they will come!”

Savannah Jordan, SCWF’s Habitat Education Manager, stands still as a butterfly lands on her hand, almost as if to say “thank you”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCWF would like to thank Skyline Design and Landscape for their assistance in the design and installation of the garden, as well as providing all the native plants and materials. SCWF is also grateful for the following partners and volunteers for their involvement: Andrew Jackson State Park, Camp Canaan, Catawba Nation, Lancaster County Library, and Sun City Carolina Lakes Community

 

 

 

 

 

This project was made possible by Duke Energy’s Catawba-Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program.

 

 

Leave the Leaves to Save Fireflies!

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Article by Tess Renusch, National Wildlife Federation

Published September 30th, 2024

https://blog.nwf.org/2024/09/leave-the-leaves-to-save-fireflies/

Fireflies are in decline, but you can help them by skipping the yard waste bags this year.

If you’ve ever lived in a region with fireflies, you’re probably most familiar with them as flying insects that light up the sky with their rhythmic blinking. But did you know that most of a firefly’s life can be spent under the leaves?

Fireflies as Larva

Like many insects, fireflies go through multiple life stages. The flying bugs we see are their adult form, but before they reach adulthood they first pass through their larval and pupal stages. In fact, for most species of fireflies, the larval stage makes up most of their life! For one species, Photinus pyralis, they spend 1-2 years as a larva, and only 30 days as an adult!

But most people have never even seen a firefly in its larval stage, or if they have, they haven’t realized what they were looking at. Firefly larvae look almost nothing like their adult forms. They often have a long, almost worm-like, body and most do not have any wings or have short wings that they cannot use for flying.

So if they don’t fly, where do these insects live for years on end? The answer lies beneath our feet.

Many firefly larvae are carnivorous, eating snails and worms they find in the moist soil! Credit: Katja Schulz/Flickr

A Life in the Leaves

While each firefly species is different, many fireflies spend their larval stage beneath a layer of fallen leaves or even under the soil. The moist environment that the leaf layer creates is a must for many firefly larvae, since some even depend on gills to breathe! The leaf layer is also helpful for many other insects and small creatures, like snails. Since many firefly larvae are carnivores, these other small animals in the leaf layer are a vital food source!

Not only does the leaf layer provide a moist environment and support a healthy food web for fireflies, but it is also essential for protecting them overwinter. Since many fireflies spend years as larvae, the leaves keep them warm, hidden and protected while they hibernate.

Roughly 30% of yard waste bags go to the landfill where they will produce methane, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Credit: xphotoz

Leave the Leaves for Fireflies

Fireflies are disappearing in America, and how we maintain our yards and gardens is a huge reason why. When homeowners and gardeners fill up yard waste bags with leaves, sticks, and other organic matter, they’re getting rid of the leaf layer that these firefly larvae need.

Not only that, but oftentimes the firefly larvae themselves get put into those yard waste bags and get carted away! About 30% of these yard waste bags end up going straight to the landfill. Some get composted, but others are incinerated– which releases carbon dioxide greenhouse gasses. Wherever these yard waste bags end up, it’s not good news for the fireflies.

To help save the fireflies, you can avoid the yard-waste bags. Instead, opt to intentionally use the fallen leaves in your yard. You can rake the leaves off your paths and lawn and move them to create a beneficial leaf layer in your garden beds and around the base of trees. Leaving the leaves doesn’t just benefit fireflies, but dozens of other wildlife species that depend on it to survive!

Banner image by James Jordan Photography

How Fallen Leaves Support Moths and Butterflies

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Article by Braelei Hardt, National Wildlife Federation, and Robert Watkins, National Wildlife Federation

https://blog.nwf.org/2024/09/how-fallen-leaves-support-moths-and-butterflies/

Published September 26th, 2024

Amid the crunch of autumn leaves underfoot lies a hidden ecosystem where moths and butterflies find shelter and sustenance. While it might seem like clutter to some, this layer of fallen foliage is a lifeline for various species—including these important pollinators. Fallen leaves are more than just remnants of summer; they are essential components of ecosystems. They enrich the soil, provide habitats, and play a pivotal role in the life cycles of many insects. Let’s take a look at some of the species that depend on the leaf layer for survival.

Mourning Cloak

Mourning cloak butterflies avoid spending energy on migration by hibernating under the leaves for winter. Credit: Popo.uw23/Flickr

The mourning cloak butterfly is a remarkable species known for its longevity and unique hibernation habits. Unlike many butterflies that migrate or overwinter in other life stages, the mourning cloak spends the winter as an adult. As temperatures drop, these butterflies seek refuge in the natural crevices provided by tree bark, logs, and importantly, within piles of fallen leaves.

Fallen leaves offers a protective blanket that insulates the butterflies against harsh winter conditions. The layers of leaves help maintain a stable microclimate, shielding them from freezing temperatures and fluctuations that could otherwise be fatal. This insulation is crucial for their survival, allowing them to conserve energy throughout the dormant season. By hibernating in leaves, they can face temperatures as low as -76°F (-60°C)!

When spring arrives, the mourning cloaks emerge, often one of the first butterflies to be seen, as they take advantage of early sap flows and mate before competition arrives. Despite braving the winter, mourning cloaks are the longest living butterflies in North America, often surviving up to 10 months.

Red-banded Hairstreak

Red-banded hairstreak caterpillars camouflage well against dead leaves. Credit: Sara Bright/Alabama Butterfly Atlas

The red-banded hairstreak butterfly exhibits a fascinating life cycle intricately tied to fallen leaves. Unlike most butterfly caterpillars, which feed on living plant tissues, the larvae of this species primarily consume decaying leaf material, especially from sumac and oak trees. The caterpillars of this species look like fuzzy leaves to camouflage against their environment.

The leaf layer serves as both a pantry and a protective environment. The layers of leaves conceal the caterpillars from predators and harsh weather, offering a safe space for growth and development. This reliance on decaying matter places the red-banded hairstreak in a unique ecological niche, contributing to nutrient cycling and the breakdown of organic material in forest ecosystems.

Io Moth

The silky underside of an Io moth cocoon made from fallen leaves. Credit: Don Hall

Io moths are renowned for their vivid coloration and striking eyespots, which serve as a defense mechanism against predators. After a period of feeding on the leaves of various trees and shrubs as caterpillars, they prepare for metamorphosis by spinning cocoons. This critical stage occurs within the leaf litter on the ground.

The fallen leaves provide essential camouflage for the cocoons, blending seamlessly with the environment to avoid detection by predators. Moreover, the microhabitat within the leaf litter maintains optimal humidity and temperature levels necessary for the delicate process of metamorphosis. The structural complexity of the leaf layers protects the cocoons from physical disturbances and environmental stressors, ensuring that the moths can successfully emerge as adults.

As adults, Io moths do not have functional mouths and do not feed. They live solely to reproduce, with a short adult lifespan of about a week. This means that every stage of their life cycle prior to adulthood is crucial for accumulating the energy reserves needed for reproduction. The protection provided by a leaf cocoon during metamorphosis is vital to their survival and ability to continue the species.

Luna Moth

A fully completed Luna moth cocoon made from freshly fallen leaves. Credit: Don Hall

The Luna moth captivates with its ethereal beauty, showcasing pale green wings and elongated tails. Similar to the Io moth, the Luna moth’s life cycle is deeply connected to the leaf litter. After the caterpillars have fed and grown on the leaves of hardwood trees like hickory, walnut, and birch, they descend to the forest floor to pupate.

Within the leaf layer, the Luna moth caterpillars spin silken cocoons interwoven with leaves, creating a secure environment for transformation. The developing moth may spend anywhere from three weeks to several months overwintering in this cocoon, while they only live as adults for about a week.

Like Io moths, adult Luna moths they do not have functional mouths to feed. This brief window of adulthood is dedicated entirely to reproduction. Because of their short lifespan and inability to feed, conserving energy under the leaves during winter ensures they emerge as healthy adults capable of finding a mate and laying the eggs quickly.

Dead Leaves, Living Habitat

Supporting the life cycles of moths and butterflies has broader implications for both wildlife and human communities. These species play significant roles in ecosystems as pollinators, prey, and indicators of environmental health.

By understanding and preserving the natural processes that sustain these species, such as the availability of leaf layers, we contribute to the resilience and functionality of ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems provide essential services, including clean air and water, pollination of crops, and natural beauty that enhances our quality of life.

So this autumn, as the leaves create a mosaic on the ground, consider the unseen wonders they support. Embracing the natural accumulation of leaves supports the intricate life cycles of species like these moths and butterflies. In doing so, you can help nurture the ecosystems that ultimately sustain both wildlife and human communities.

Banner image by Neil Williamson