Weekend Activity: Leaves and Brushpiles for Wildlife

Build a Brushpile:
Want an easy way to clear your yard of stray branches and twigs? Build a brushpile to provide a safe spot for ground-nesting birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and hibernating reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Put it in an out-of-the-way corner of your property, preferably close to food sources and away from buildings. Start with a layer of larger limbs and stack branches loosely, adding grasses and leaves to create nooks and crannies.

Your firewood pile can also make a good shelter for wildlife, even if you’ll be disturbing it occasionally throughout the winter. Pile your logs in a crisscross fashion to create internal spaces that offer small animals a little relief from the cold

Leave the Leaves:
Rake and pile leaves in a corner of your garden – Leave a pile of fallen leaves, twigs, branches and other yard debris in a shady corner of your property. Let it pile up and decay. It will eventually break down into mulch. Meanwhile, it will provide a great home for frogs, newts, worms and other kinds of tiny creatures.

Learn more about brushpiles and how to make one in your yard: http://ow.ly/LH8S30fZr9v