Wild Ones Quad Cities establishes Chapter, welcomes new members
Wild Ones Quad Cities announces it has become one of the newest chapters in a rapidly growing national Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, an organization that encourages people to incorporate native plants into their landscapes. The chapter will host prairie and garden tours, plant sales, seed swaps, and educational opportunities. Membership is open to residents of Illinois counties of Rock Island, Henry, Mercer and Knox, and Iowa counties of Scott, Clinton, Jones, Muscatine and Cedar.
In recent years the Quad Cities and much of the Midwest have experienced heavy rain during spring and summer months causing widespread flooding and erosion. Landscaping practices can either worsen or combat those problems. Pavement, buildings, and turf grass laid over previous native wildflowers, forests, and marshes has reduced the amount of area able to retain both water and soil. Native prairie and woodland plants can absorb seven times the amount of water that lawns absorb. Replacing turf grass with native plantings would greatly reduce flooding in our area.
Pollinators and birds in the United States have both experienced declines in numbers in recent decades due to many factors, one of which is habitat loss. The iconic monarch butterfly has only a 10% chance of persisting above the extinction threshold over the next 30 years. The mission of Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, is to promote environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. The newly established local chapter will bring this mission to the Quad Cities.
President Becki Wells says, “People underestimate their ability to contribute to the health of our local ecology. One yard at a time, one field at a time is all it takes for ordinary citizens to give pollinators a fighting chance. We want to help people learn about this movement that’s quickly growing throughout the country and how they can do their part to help our local ecology.” The link to apply for membership is https://members.wildones.org/join/?chapter=1636
