Douglas Tallamy’s Ground Plan to Transform Earth’s Private Landscapes
From Acadia to Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon to Yosemite, national parks are jewels in America’s ecological crown.
The US has more than 60 national parks that support natural habitats and preserve plant and animal species. But one organization is on a mission to create a national park to dwarf them all—and it relies on everyday citizen gardeners to help make that dream a reality.
Homegrown National Park (HNP) is not located on any one site—it cannot be driven to or hiked through. But it is, quite literally, everywhere.
The brainchild of entomologist Douglas Tallamy and entrepreneur Michelle Alfandari, HNP is a nonprofit that encourages people to turn their own land into a park by planting native species in their gardens and around their homes.
On a deeper level, HNP also aims to transform culture by helping people think beyond “nice-looking” lawns and gardens. HNP wants them to see themselves as sustainers of the natural world through functions such as water purification, oxidative production, decomposition, and carbon sequestration.
Tallamy told The Earth & I: “In the US we’ve 44 million acres of lawn—that's the size of New England—which is dedicated to an ecological ‘dead scape’.”
Tallamy told The Earth & I: “In the US we’ve 44 million acres of lawn—that's the size of New England—which is dedicated to an ecological ‘dead scape’.”
“More and more people are talking about that. They’re asking, ‘How do I change that?’ And that's what we try to guide them through,” said Tallamy, who is TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware.
The Need for Action
Tallamy said drastic action is needed to help combat what some scientists have labeled as Earth’s “sixth mass extinction event.” This refers to research indicating a “biological annihilation” of many species of wildlife over the last few decades and the ripple effect it has on other species. In the US, the introduction of non-native plants may look pleasant, but these plants are “unproductive” in that they do not support wider ecosystems of insects and birds, Tallamy said.
And while official green spaces, such as national parks, can help stem the tide of the damage, more action is needed, said Tallamy.
“We've got parks and ... preserves, [but] we're still in the sixth great extinction event that has ever occurred, which means [the parks and preserves] are not working, they're not good enough. So, we now have to practice conservation ... on private property, which means the private property owner is the future of conservation, and they don't know that.”
What Does It Involve?
At its most basic level, HNP is an interactive map that tracks the total area in the US—and now Canada—occupied by native plants that have been planted by contributors to the HNP.
HNP contributors include individuals, community groups, charities, churches, and anyone wishing to take part in planting one or more native plants. These plantings are represented on the map by a “firefly.” The map already has 40,001 fireflies.
The land could be something small, like a window box on an apartment balcony, or a church field, or a large plot of unused private land. The native plants that are sowed help support insects, birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife.
Tallamy said: “We're trying to encourage people to put their property on the [biodiversity] map. What they do is register where their location is and then the amount of area they plant with natives on their property. Then we record that.
“And then your little piece of your country will light up with a firefly. The object is to get the whole country to light up with a firefly. There's a little bit of competition involved as each state is color-coded, depending on how many people have joined.”
The aim is to eventually repurpose 20 million acres of private land in the US.
The aim is to eventually repurpose 20 million acres of private land in the US, but Tallamy concedes it will not necessarily mean everyone becomes an expert straight away.
“We are not going to convert everybody into master gardeners. That's not going to happen.” Tallamy added.
“But we do want them to realize what their property should be accomplishing, such as sequestering carbon or managing the watershed. It should be supporting the food web, and it should be supporting pollinators.
“And you can say, ‘Well, what can I do to my property to improve each one of those?’ That depends on where you live and how big a property is, but there's several things everybody can do.”
Anyone wishing to get involved can also find information on what they should be growing, such as “keystone species” or plants that are the most ecologically productive in that specific part of the country.
Future Development
Tallamy had the original idea long before the site was launched in 2020 and said even in that time, he had noticed increased interest in conservation and preserving local ecosystems among everyday people.
At the moment, the HNP project only exists in the USA and Canada, but its goal is to cover the Earth.
“We would love to expand this; it's really a global need. We need biodiversity everywhere, but the plants that will achieve those solutions are going to be different. But the concepts are the same everywhere.”
Tallamy and his colleagues are in the process of ranking plants at the genus level all over the world in terms of their ability to support food webs.
Tallamy and his colleagues are in the process of ranking plants at the genus level all over the world in terms of their ability to support food webs. So far, they have ranked Europe, North America, Australia, and India. They are working on Africa and have also ranked most of South America and Asia. This would enable the team to provide people in those countries with the best plants to introduce into their own local ecosystems.
But for HNP to officially spread to other countries, it needs investment.
“Part of the problem of not charging anybody is that we have no money!” Tallamy said. “It's the perennial problem of a nonprofit.”
“I got an email the other day from some guy who has just moved to Panama, and he wants to do this there,” he explained. “So, the will is there, but we need a bigger administration to be able to coordinate it. It took us a long time to get Canada to participate. But now they're up and running.”
A central part of the project is that even slight changes can contribute to a bigger, positive picture, and that is something Tallamy is eager to reiterate.
“It's a process. Nobody's going to do this overnight. If you plant one tree this year, you're headed in the right direction. And if you plant another one next year, that's two and it adds up, so it will happen over time. But you're not going to plant that one tree until you're convinced it's necessary to do that,” Tallamy said.
“It's not nature for nature’s sake—its nature for our sake.” Tallamy concluded.
“We are a part of nature. We depend on it,” he said. “Everybody on the planet requires ecosystem services, and we are decreasing the ability of ecosystems to provide those services every single day. We've got to turn that around. So, the object is to create ecosystem function right where we live, where we work, where we play—it's got to be everywhere.”
*Mark Smith is a journalist and author from the UK. He has written on subjects ranging from business and technology to world affairs, history, and popular culture for the Guardian, BBC, Telegraph, and magazines in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Comentarios