In autumn when I was growing up, my parents and neighbors raked leaves into a big pile in the front yard. We had fun jumping in the crunchy leaves that fall each year.
Then as night took over, an adult lit a match on them and we watched them burn. The aroma, the smoke and the brightness of the flames were enchanting.
We didn’t know back then that burning leaves pollutes the air. According to the EPA, burning leaves “produces particulate matter and hydrocarbons which contain a number of toxic, irritant and carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds.” Those with asthma and other lung conditions have trouble breathing when people burn leaves — that’s why some communities don’t allow the practice.
But what do you do with all those leaves? One possibility is to use a leaf blower and pile them all on the curbside for local pickup, or put them in bags for disposal.
The trouble is leaf blowers, especially those that burn gasoline, add more pollution to the air. One source says a half-hour of leaf blowing with a gas-powered engine produces the same amount of air pollution as driving a truck halfway across the United States. And they’re noisy — much noisier than a lawn mower.
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Raking makes more sense — it’s good exercise and doesn’t pollute.
But why not consider using the leaves in your yard instead of disposing them? You can turn them into compost, use as mulch in flower beds or just let them decompose naturally. Pile some in a corner of your yard for a winter habitat for animals such as frogs, snails, spiders and beetles, who welcome the insulation from winter’s cold.
Some worry that keeping leaves on the lawn all winter will smother the grass. But a recent study at Michigan State University showed that lawns benefit from thin leaf layers. To create the layers, mow the lawn with leaves intact to cut them into smaller pieces. Over the winter, they will add nutrients to the soil.
To get an idea of how important leaves are to an ecosystem, take a walk through the woods in fall. You’ll notice the forest floor covered with colorful leaves, as well as those that are brown and decaying. No one blows those leaves away, rakes them or disposes of them. When you return in spring, you’ll find woodland flowers rising from the leaf-littered forest floor.
Year-round, but especially in autumn, leaves, twigs and even bird feathers fall on the forest floor to form what’s called leaf litter. It helps hold the soil in place, keeps it moist and protects plant seedlings.
But why doesn’t all the leaf litter build up and smother the forest floor? That’s when tiny critters, some of them microscopic, come into play. Mites, millipedes, worms and other animals chew the leaves to tiny pieces that get digested by bacteria and fungi. A ton of this leaf litter could fall upon one acre of woods each year, but these decomposers ensure the forest floor doesn’t get over inundated with debris.
Look beneath the leaf litter and you’ll find a dark, soft soil called humus. That’s what you’re creating when you compost in your backyard. In March, when snows melt upon remaining leaf litter, the American woodcock returns from its winter home to places like northern Illinois where it nests. It uses a long, bendable bill to seek food such as worms underneath the leaf litter. That food gives it energy to start a family in springtime.
Look at the leaves in your yard as contributors to the circle of life instead of a nuisance — and be grateful they are part of the process of photosynthesis, which gives food to trees and oxygen to humans.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the baiduhai and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment. Send story ideas and thoughts to [email protected].