Roosevelt Island Property Owners Please Leave The Fall Leaves On The Ground, It's Good For The Environment Says Resident

Image From National Wildlife Federation

Roosevelt Island resident Rossana Ceruzzi is a NY State and Federal licensed wildlife rehabilitator and President of the Wildlife Freedom Foundation Inc. Ms Ceruzzi is asking the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and Roosevelt Island property owners to follow the lead of Madison Square Park to not remove

the Fall Leaves from their property.

Image of Southtown Riverwalk and Manhattan Park Lawn Leaves

According to the National Wildlife Federation:

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN: The air turns crisp, the leaves turn red and gold and homeowners turn to the annual chore known as “fall garden cleanup”—including disposal of those leaves after they fall to the ground.

Traditionally, leaf removal has entailed three steps: Rake leaves (or blast them with a blower) into piles, transfer the piles to bags and place the bags out to be hauled off to a landfill. Yet, increasingly, conservationists say these actions not only harm the environment but rob your garden of nutrients while destroying wildlife habitat. The alternative? “Let fallen leaves stay on your property says National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski.

Leaves in Landfills

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, leaves and other yard debris account for more than 13 percent of the nation’s solid waste—a whopping 33 million tons a year. Without enough oxygen to decompose, this organic matter releases the greenhouse gas methane, says Joe Lamp’l, author of The Green Gardener’s Guide. In fact, solid-waste landfills are the largest U.S. source of man-made methane—and that’s aside from the carbon dioxide generated by gas-powered blowers and trucks used in leaf disposal.

For gardeners, turning leaves into solid waste is wasteful. “Fallen leaves offer a double benefit,” Mizejewski says. “Leaves form a natural mulch that helps suppress weeds and fertilizes the soil as it breaks down.....

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