Fall tips to keep our neighborhood safe and healthy

[Karen Story]

It's leaf season! Please remember to keep sidewalks adjacent to your home clear of leaves for pedestrian safety, and keep vegetation trimmed back to the edge of the sidewalk, and eight feet above. Make sure street drains are clear to prevent flooding.

Please ask your yard service to switch to an electric blower (or offer to let them use yours). Learn more about Kirkland's Electric Blower Initiative here. Gas blowers are noisy, toxic, and highly polluting. Electric blowers pay for themselves quickly from savings on gas, oil, parts, and maintenance.

This issue of the Kirkland Wildlife Habitat newsletter includes information about feeding wildlife (don't do it), Halloween safety (fake cobwebs can ensnare birds), and the importance of leaf litter.

Please consider leaving the leaves on garden beds. Besides being good for the plants and soil, it helps pollinators such as butterflies and bumblebees. For example, butterflies often overwinter in fallen leaves as caterpillars, chrysalises, or even in their adult forms, depending on the species. According to the National Wildlife Federation, when leaves are raked into a yard waste bag, up to 45% of a yard's butterflies are thrown away!