People feel a longing for a connection to the natural world. Instead of enjoying nature as a way of life, we fill our daily lives with all sorts of uninspiring, attention-robbing activities—entertainment, shopping, doomscrolling, and, of course, nonstop work. Nature is over there in some far-away nature preserve or national park, and we’re over here eking out an existence in the city or suburbs.
What if we could bring the natural world to our own yards? What if we could connect our yards in such a way that we create a kind of continuation of our national parks, where nature is restored and we can be right in the middle of it all?
This is precisely the vision of Douglas W. Tallamy, a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. What he calls the “Homegrown National Park” is explained in his book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard (Timber Press). And if you’re reluctant to read the whole book, there’s a snappy video summarizing the main ideas: https://homegrownnationalpark.org/whats-the-rush/.
Tallamy argues that by “renaturing” homeowners’ backyards en masse with native plants, a giant wildlife corridor can be created, a 20-million-acre area larger than the combined acreage of the Everglades, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Teton, Canyonlands, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Badlands, Olympic, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Denali, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. Such a mega park could be created if all landowners in the United States converted just half their lawns to productive native-plant communities. Clearly, Tallamy’s idea of a Homegrown National Park applies equally well to Canada—or pretty much anywhere else in the world.
But why is such a crazy idea so attractive? Well, obviously, it allows us to enjoy nature in a beautiful backyard. More importantly, however, it enables us to restore ecosystems, the intricate interconnections between native plants, insects, geography, and the humans and other animals whose lives depend on their interplay. In other words, restoring nature in our own backyard is good for the world, and what’s good for the world is good for us, too. Tallamy is telling us that we don’t need to wait for government to do something to correct ecological degradation; we have the ability to do this ourselves.
My wife and I have been thinking about our own yard for several years. It started in the summer of 2021, when the heat dome brought unprecedented temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius. As a result, our lawn turned to brown stubble and struggled to recover long afterward. That’s when we began looking for a draught-resistant and low-maintenance lawn substitute. The following year, we got rid of our monoculture grass and replaced it with Bee Turf™ from West Coast Seeds, a seed combination that provides a steady rotation of different low-growing, flowering plants from early spring and on into the fall.
More recently, after we learned about Tallamy’s concept of the Homegrown National Park, we decided that our next step would be to purchase native plants from the Fraser Valley Conservancy, focusing on shrubs that would attract pollinators and birds. We’re excited to see what will come of our new additions: Red-flowering Currant, Pacific Ninebark, Oceanspray, Saskatoon, Chokeberry, Common Snowberry, and Evergreen Huckleberry. These are our first steps in creating a Canadian Homegrown National Park.
If everyone were to do something similar in their own yards, even if it’s just a plant or two, think of the healing that it would bring not only for the land but also for our culture. Renaturing is a way we can reclaim our own attention and spend it on things that really matter. Join us!
