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originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
I've been a naturalist all my life and hated the way nature and the environment was treated in the Detroit area where I grew up. So I moved out to a property that was never inhabited, a hardwood swamp.
Nature rules here, even thrives when things like logging are done, mainly because no one interferes with nature when it grows back. However, humans require some space around their dwelling that is particularly a human space. Because nature abhors a vacuum, that area needs to be managed by cutting it short on a regular basis. Native grasses and sedges will do OK as they are well adapted, the pests and critters not so much in my yard, but they don't need to live in my space.
It's an incredible experience to look out your window and see an array of wildlife at the edge of your lawn, however, it becomes a big problem when they get up close and want to live in your lap. I cut my yard as a buffer zone and maintain it like I would my house (like removing tree seedlings from my gutters or around the foundation).
I am a product of nature and most, if not all, of my activities are natural for humans and are basically instinct. I may have an understanding of what my actions can do to a natural environment and decide based on that, but I have a natural born right to live here. In the end nature rules and will make my efforts disappear in a couple of decades after I leave the area. Even with my lawn, the bears and every other damn critter will waltz through here and do what they do, I see no reason to feel bad that I have done the same.
originally posted by: AaarghZombies
originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
I've been a naturalist all my life and hated the way nature and the environment was treated in the Detroit area where I grew up. So I moved out to a property that was never inhabited, a hardwood swamp.
Nature rules here, even thrives when things like logging are done, mainly because no one interferes with nature when it grows back. However, humans require some space around their dwelling that is particularly a human space. Because nature abhors a vacuum, that area needs to be managed by cutting it short on a regular basis. Native grasses and sedges will do OK as they are well adapted, the pests and critters not so much in my yard, but they don't need to live in my space.
It's an incredible experience to look out your window and see an array of wildlife at the edge of your lawn, however, it becomes a big problem when they get up close and want to live in your lap. I cut my yard as a buffer zone and maintain it like I would my house (like removing tree seedlings from my gutters or around the foundation).
I am a product of nature and most, if not all, of my activities are natural for humans and are basically instinct. I may have an understanding of what my actions can do to a natural environment and decide based on that, but I have a natural born right to live here. In the end nature rules and will make my efforts disappear in a couple of decades after I leave the area. Even with my lawn, the bears and every other damn critter will waltz through here and do what they do, I see no reason to feel bad that I have done the same.
Nature is great, unless you live somewhere with wolves and bear, in which case its best to maintain some distance.