In this month’s column, ecologist Kevin Caldwell and I continue our discussion of protecting the integrity and ecology of the land when building a home. We left off last month with a discussion of how landowners might be damaging land and losing thousands of dollars worth of landscape-quality native plants while clearing home sites. During the conversation, it became clear we were talking less about native plant landscaping to reduce our impacts and more about native landscape restoration, or saving and restoring the elements of natural areas, putting them back into place and protecting plant and wildlife biodiversity.

This time around, we discussed how new and existing green homes can integrate rather than overlook the native plants and soils on our lands.

“Clearing and grading for some home sites,” Kevin offered, “can destroy thousands of individual native plants and a few hundred species. If these and other resources are identified before excavation and clearing, they become assets, not casualties. They can easily be returned to native and man-made areas at a home site.”

“So, essentially, rescuing and landscaping with native plants from the actual road and home sites,” I suggested.

“Yes, but I don’t even call it landscaping, though it doubles as that. Most native plantings are collections of regionally native plants, whether they’re native to the specific site or not. Native landscape restoration, by contrast identifies and restores plants and soils actually native to a place. By incorporating the actual native species saved from a building site, we’re putting the original pieces back where they’d be otherwise unknown and destroyed. In terms of efficiency and conservation, restoration naturally complements green-built homes built on raw land.”
“How does it complement green homes?” I inquired.

“Green building is based on energy and resource conservation to protect nature,” Kevin responded. “Likewise, native landscape restoration conserves nature’s energy (genetics, biodiversity, dynamics) and resources (plants, wildlife, habitat, water) on a given site. These resources have evolved together for millennia, so they already have more efficient relationships when returned than soils and plants brought in randomly. It doesn’t make economic or conservation sense to build a green home but destroy the unknown ‘natural capital’ of the land.”
I asked, “What is happening to the land in this region; what are we losing?”

“Primarily, the biggest impacts are to clearing of forests more than meadows or fields, which are dominated by introduced grasses,” Kevin clarified. “In forests, hundreds of actual species can be lost in a day. Losses are compounded there when native plants are not only destroyed, but hundreds or thousands are spent on plants and then labor, costing twice as much or more than rescuing soils and plants up front. It’s hard to watch.”

Kevin noted that native landscape restoration planting does many things:

• Re-establishes “alliances” of highly adaptable, drought-tolerant insect- and disease-resistant plants
• Protects local genetic pools of biodiversity
• Creates a lower-maintenance, self-sustaining system that require less mechanized polluting and thoughtless activity from humans
• Restores native habitats that invite more wildlife and, thus, plants to return
• Reduces money, water, chemicals and labor spent on a traditional lawn that provides no wildlife habitat
• Provides an attractive environment anyone can enjoy
“With 400 green homes in progress around Asheville right now,“ I asked, “how does one go about this process?”

“It’s easy,” he began. “First you assess the land: plants, wildlife, water, etc., and then design access and home sites to avoid and protect these features, especially rare species and natural ‘communities.’ When the design is set, you then rescue any high quality native plants and soils from clearing and return them to the natural areas and, later, the home site. The most rewarding part is to save and increase the rare species.”
“That doesn’t sound so easy,” I mused.

Kevin continued, “It’s like replacing a transmission: you don’t throw out the other engine parts, you re-use them. The new construction is the ‘transmission,’ and the related parts are the native plants and soils. To throw them out without even knowing what value they have is 100 percent waste. You can’t restore everything, but most people are surprised to learn how many very high quality and often rare plants they have—it’s a treasure hunt every time.”

“It sounds like timing plays a major role in this. What if you have to build in spring? How do you avoid wildlife impacts or move flowering plants?”

“Small wildlife like salamanders and burrowing animals are impossible to rescue. Primarily, you avoid denning and breeding areas and key breeding and denning times of year. You can seriously help migratory birds,” he suggested, “by avoiding tree-cutting between April 15th and July 7th so migratory birds can reproduce without stress and having nests toppled. They’ve just flown thousands of miles, and some of these birds have only a single nest of birds a year. Destroying their nests can mean no new birds, a very serious issue, as many of these birds are declining in number.”

“As for plants,” Kevin continued, “many can be rescued easily. For example, you can dig a wildflower, cut the stem off, and replant or pot the plant immediately, but be sure to keep it moist. Depending on the time of year, the plant may send new shoots up very soon as if a deer had eaten it or lie dormant, sprouting again the next year. Because many spring wildflowers wilt by between May and July, clipping the stem back is not a huge impact. Small trees and shrubs are easily moved during leaf-off.”

“Clearly, existing homeowners could begin to restore native plants also. How does one restore where the plants are long-gone?” I asked.
“For existing homes, it’s the reverse process,” he said. “You compare nearby natural areas in the same landscape position (ridge, cove, upper slope) and elevation locally and use the dominant native plants in those native areas as the theme. If there are none, you get a pro to extrapolate what the natural community was historically.”

I didn’t realize this angle on native plants existed. Put in perspective, it makes sense to assess, rescue and restore the native plants and features unique to our properties. It’s exciting to learn we have such precious resources at hand, and that we can do a lot to actively protect and restore them when we build. The lens of ecology reveals new opportunities for us to recognize and integrate plants, wildlife, and wild places we’ve been overlooking. Building a green home is a great way to help nature through conservation. Doing so while protecting and restoring the integrity of land is our new challenge.

For more information on native landscape restoration, contact Kevin at Mountains to Sea Conservation: 828-551-8225 or mtssea@yahoo.com.
janeAnne Narrin, M.A., C.S.W., poet, REALTOR®, ECO, e-PRO, nature-lover is the founder of the ECO-Steward Real Estate Firm in Asheville, North Carolina. She loves a spirit of stewardship. Visit www.ECOstewardRealty.com.

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