Did you know that there are a great many wonderful ways that plants and animals can actually work for you on a horse property? Douglas fir trees, willows, and dogwoods can sop up a wet area. Violet green swallows can do bug patrol, eating several thousand flies, moths, mosquitoes, and other bugs each day-more than any bug-zapper! Bats will conduct nightly bug raids, racking up thousands of more bug deaths. Native roses in a hedgerow along your driveway can welcome visitors with their sweet smell.
Native plants and animals can serve both utilitarian and delightful aesthetic functions on horse properties-all the while saving you time and money, and reducing your impact on the environment.
Why Go Native?
Native plants are the ones that grow in your area naturally. They have lots of advantages over their non-native cousins when it comes to landscaping. They're better adapted to local climate and soil conditions and are more insect- and disease-
resistant than non-natives-a bonus for you because you're less likely to need pesticides or fertilizers to help them along.
We don't have to look hard to see that exposure to pesticides is being linked daily to such frightening disorders as nerve damage in adults and cancer in children. Chemicals used outdoors often end up in our surface waters, where they can harm fish and other aquatic wildlife or become a human health issue. The bottom line is simple: any way we can reduce chemical use in our lives and around our horses is a good thing for everyone and everything.
After the first few years of a little extra watering, native plants are ready to go "on their own," requiring only a minimal amount of care and no special watering, except perhaps under unusual circumstances like drought. Going native is an important water conservation technique-and a time and money saver for you! Native plants generally cost less to buy than non-native landscaping plants and are equally attractive.
Bountiful Benefits
- Eliminate boggy areas with strategic planting.
- Create dust, wind, and visual screens using hardy natives.
- Shade barns and paddocks with deciduous trees that let the sun shine through in winter.
- Provide habitat for beneficial insect- and rodent-eating birds and animals.
- Control soil erosion and prevent run-off.
Habitat-Home-Sweet-Home
All living things need a place to live, find food, and reproduce. When we take away natural vegetation for our own use, we take away those areas for other living creatures. Native plants offer food and shelter, called "habitat," to a variety of native animals.
Habitat loss is the greatest threat to wildlife and we are losing wildlife habitat at an alarming rate. According to the Biodiversity Project in Madison, Wisconsin, one million acres of open space is being lost to urban sprawl each year. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Migratory Bird Management reports that in the contiguous United States, 99% of the original eastern United States forests have been cut, 95% of tall grass prairies have been permanently destroyed, and more than 50% of all wetlands have been drained or filled.
So what can horse owners do about loss of wildlife habitat?
Every little bit helps. By using native plants, the ones that animals are adapted to living in and getting food from, we give some habitat back to animals. At the same time, we can put some of those critters to work for us-chasing bugs and rodents, or providing us with entertainment and enjoyment.
Let's examine some things horse owners can do to put both plants and animals to work, and how we can help each other.
