Explore the Orleans Conservation Trust At Home with Nature initiative, a resource-rich source of information and tools to practice nature-friendly landscaping. You’ll learn about native plants—a vital component of healthy home landscapes that provide food and nesting habitats for our beautiful local birds and critters. By cultivating native trees, shrubs, and perennials, and removing invasive, non-native species, we can avoid using pesticides and thus help pollinators thrive. Smaller lawns that can be mowed and watered less often are part of the solution, and ideally homeowners will come to appreciate the benefits of a true Cape Cod lawn. All these practices will help you save time and money and reduce the use of water—our most precious shared resource.” Learn more here: https://orleansconservationtrust.org/at-home-with-nature/
Check out these Town of Orleans Conservation Commission resources:
- Plants Native to Orleans. https://www.town.orleans.ma.us/215/List-of-Native-Plants
- A Guide to Orleans Wetlands Bylaw and Regulations, accessible on the Town of Orleans website, https://www.town.orleans.ma.us/614/Conservation-Commission. Freshwater wetlands serve many beneficial functions to the community. By channeling runoff away from nearby roads and buildings, wetlands protect structures from flood damage. Wetlands provide temporary storage for floodwaters, allowing the water to slowly recede and recharge the groundwater aquifer. And the wetland may help purify the water it receives. Saltwater beaches, dunes, coastal banks, and salt marshes are dynamic systems. Construction and maintenance activities must be planned carefully in these areas to allow natural shifting to occur. Wetlands Bylaw and Regulations provide critical guidance for individual action that will sustain beaches, bays, dunes, marshes, ponds, and bogs, minimizing the need for engineered seawalls and providing wildlife with important food, shelter, breeding areas and sources of fresh water.