This week, my yard turned golden with maple and aspen leaf fall. It was perfect timing when my email in-box announced the The Xerces Society’s blog post “Leaves Are Not Litter!” I am feeling pretty great about keeping my flower beds messy while providing winter habitat for spiders, pill bugs, centipedes, and beetles. Many species of butterflies, moths, and bees rely on fallen leaves for cover and insulation all winter long. Yes, I will rake leaves off of my sidewalks and driveway, and pile them up in flower beds and in my compost bins. Insects and spiders provide protein-rich foods for birds and mammals.

And, I can do more than be a “leaf leaver.” A few years back, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology program developed the “pledge to be a messy gardener” initiative, stating “Gardens are havens for wildlife–even at the end of the growing season. Overgrown grassy reeds, dried flower stalks, and shrubby fruit-filled branches provide food, cover, and protection in the fall and winter for animals big and small.” I will wait until spring to prune down perennial flower heads and crumpled browned leaves!

Throughout the Wenatchee River watershed each fall, native deciduous trees shed leaves that often fall into creeks, rivers, and lakes. Black cottonwood are the tallest and most common tree species in our riparian gallery forests, along with dozens of other species of deciduous shrubs and trees. Their fallen leaves form the basis of the aquatic food chain, turning sunshine into food for salmon. Read more about the aquatic food web in my story about Stormy Preserve Riparian Exploration Field Trip on the Entiat River.

We are at the turn of seasons, with winter chasing autumn leaves away. I leave you with this ice sculpture, formed inside inside a muddy footprint along a dirt path.