This past year, South Portland launched its 100 Resilient Yards program in an effort to promote organic land care and biodiverse landscapes. There was astounding interest from residents to participate in the program, with over 430 applications.
After choosing 100 sites, we provided technical expertise and resources to help residents begin to transform their properties into resilient, organic landscapes founded on healthy soils. By the end of the program, with the help of eight partner organizations and 25 amazing volunteers, we had established 30 new vegetable gardens, planted nearly 250 native plants, and helped connect community members. It was a resounding success, and yes, please stay tuned – we are in the process of putting together a follow-up program for 2024.
The Wild Seed Project is a nonprofit organization that equips community members, public officials and municipalities, with the skills and resources needed to repopulate landscapes with native plants. Courtesy photo/Wild Seed Project
In the meantime, we’d like to highlight the Wild Seed Project, a fabulous resource and leader in helping people transition to organic land care practices. The Wild Seed Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that equips community members, public officials and municipalities, and many others with the skills and resources they need to collectively repopulate landscapes with native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.
I chatted with Andrea Berry, the Wild Seed Project’s executive director, who gave insight into the importance of native plants.
Why are native plants important for climate change?
Native plants are those species that either arrived in a geological area without human intervention, perhaps thousands of years ago, or originated there. Not only have they adapted to a specific area physically, but chemically and genetically, making them the most resilient and sustainable plants for that specific area.
Planting native plants in your yard or garden landscapes helps to sustain populations of native insects, birds, and mammals that non-native plants often don’t. Further, they can support wildlife by providing natural ecosystem services like pollination, infiltration, and carbon sequestration.
Native plants also make our landscapes more adaptable to future environmental stressors, like temperature swings, drought, flooding, and pest outbreaks. I asked Berry how native plants can support climate resilience, and she emphasized that planting native seeds is one way to create a resilient landscape: “Seeds bring unique genetics. Each seed, as just with humans, creates a unique individual. So if we focus on seed-grown native plants, we’ll find differentiation in that species.”
Differentiation is beneficial because if a variety of plants in a species experiences a threat (like a really dry summer), some of the plants may have a gene that can withstand and tolerate dry soil, while others may not. Whereas, if plants in a species all have the gene that can’t tolerate a dry summer, the entire species is annihilated and the surrounding ecosystem in that specific area is devastated.
“If we create landscapes that are full of seed-grown plants that have unique genetics within the species, we have much more likelihood that those plants will be able to handle the changing weather and the warming climate,” Berry said.
For more information on native plants and the Wildseed Project, visit https://wildseedproject.net/.
Get Involved Join the Wild Seed Project for its online event “Planting for Climate Resilience Q&A” on March 26 from 5 to 6 p.m. The Wild Seed Project will host an hour of open Q&A to discuss what we’ve been seeing in the Northeast’s climate and how we have been adapting. You’re invited to bring questions about planting for climate resilience, such as winter sowing in warming winters, assisted migration, the adaptive capacity of plants and ecosystems, and anything else you may think of.
For more information and to register, visit https://wildseedproject.net/walk-talk-workshop/online-planting-for-climate-resilience/.
Come visit South Portland Public Library on June 5 at 6 p.m. for its “No Mow May, Now What” event.
The Wild Seed Project will share how to incorporate thoughtful landscape practices in our backyards, gardens, community spaces, and more. Also, you will learn about different gardening practices that will care for organisms in your local ecosystem.
For more information, contact Lisa Joyce at ljoyce@southportland.org.
Our Sustainable City is a recurring column in the Sentry intended to provide residents with news and information about sustainability initiatives in South Portland. Follow the Sustainability Office on Instagram @soposustainability.
Jenna d’Arcy is an AmeriCorps/GPCOG Resilience Corps fellow serving in the South Portland Sustainability Office through September 2024. She can be reached at jdarcy@southportland.org. Andrea Berry, executive director of the Wild Seed Project, contributed to this column.
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