Natural Habitat helps insects in Evanston survive climate disruption.

Why are we focused on insects? 

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Our Pollinator Pledge is aimed at helping insects:

• Leave the leaves and plant stalks. Don't toss out biodiversity when you tidy your yard.  For insects, leaves and garden debris are their whole world. Beetles, spiders, fireflies, ladybugs and more live there all year.  Rake leaves off walkways and into garden beds and under trees and shrubs.  They are natural mulch. Let them decay naturally.
• Plant natives. Most plant-eating insects need to have certain native plants to develop. Think of the milkweed that monarch caterpillars need. Without milkweed, no monarchs.  The same is true for many other insects. The plants that these butterflies, moths, beetles, bees and others require are called their host plants.  Read more about host plants below, and checkout our page on Keystone native plants.
• Shrink lawns and mow less. Conventional turfgrass is non-native, so it is not a larval host to many native insects. It also typically requires water, chemicals and energy-using mowers and blowers to maintain. Because we mow, cutting off seedheads, it provides little benefit to birds. Shrink your lawn by swapping it out for native sedges, no-mow mixes, a pollinator garden, or a tree and a few shrubs. Or at least mow less often to reduce the energy use, noise, and vibration damage to you.
• Don't use synthetic chemicals. Pesticides and herbicides kill insects and beneficial soil microorganisms, and aren't good for you and your family either. Fertilizers are not needed for native gardens. Learn to live with insects.
  • For mosquitos, apply repellent, turn on a fan when sitting outside, dump containers holding water at least weekly, add fish to your pond.
  • For insects eating your plants, tolerate it: appreciate that native insects are benefiting from your garden. As your native garden matures, predatory insects arrive to keep other insects in check.
  • For ticks, apply a repellent, do a self-check when you come inside, wash your clothes after working outside in tick season.
• Reduce light pollution. Dim or turn off outside lights, pull shades at night to reduce light escape, use motion sensors, choose lights on the amber-red spectrum (instead of blue-white). Use your phone light instead of static lamps.
  
  • Insects are attracted to white lights, where they gather and are eaten by predators at unnatural levels, accelerating their population declines.
  • Fireflies blink on an amber range, and stop blinking when lights compete with them.  Turn off your outdoor lights in the brief firefly season, or use red light

Our Pollinator Pledge also includes making windows safer for birds.  Read about that on our bird-safe window page.

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Our Nurturing Nature speaker series focuses on many ways to help insects. Check out our library of talks.

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More about Host Plants for Insects:

Top Host plants for caterpillars: