Leaving the leaves: No-rake approach to fall has environmental benefits

Every fall, Michigan’s beautiful foliage becomes piles of dead leaves in our yards and gardens – but what then?

Autumn leaves on a lawn.

Leaves don’t belong in landfill-bound trash. Not all municipalities collect them for composting. Burning them is bad for air quality.

The no-rake movement

Another option is gaining ground: letting leaves remain on the ground through the fall, winter, and early spring. Their decomposition will nourish the soil as they provide habitat for wildlife including important pollinators like bumblebee queens and colorful butterflies.

As the National Wildlife Federation puts it, “The leaf layer is its own mini ecosystem.”

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources explains that chipmunks, toads, box turtles, shrews, insects, earthworms, and other critters make fallen leaf layers their homes in the fall. Raking or blowing leaves disrupts their life cycles and eliminates beneficial insects. Left in place, the leaves eventually break down.

In fact, Michigan’s fertile soils have built up over thousands of years of forests dropping their leaves, which decompose (or compost) in place – making leaves Michigan’s original fertilizer.

Leaf litter is also a destination for birds like cardinals that overwinter in Michigan and can feast on the bugs sheltering in leaf piles.

“It's kind of getting back into nature,” said Aaron Hiday, compost program coordinator with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). “The leaves are going to decompose and be beneficial to your soil. Saves you from having to rake them up, and it’s good for your yard.”

Leaving the leaves also averts the noise and air pollution of leaf blowers and the fossil fuels that run them.

Mulching the leaves with a mower is an alternative no-rake approach that can preserve some benefits to habitat and soil while breaking up dense cover and letting sunlight reach turf grass below.

“If you have a mulching mower, chew them up,” Michigan State University Professor of Forestry Bert Cregg told UpNorthLive.com. “Cut it high and let it lie.”

Of course, personal preference, homeowners associations, or municipal ordinances all might come to bear on decisions about fall leaves. If letting them lie where they land is not an option and pickup is not available, leaves can be raked into selected areas like garden beds – where they can maintain soil moisture and temperature and prevent weeds, erosion, and soil compaction – or composted at home to create topsoil. Step-by-step instructions are available through the website compostguide.com or on EGLE’s Residential Composting webpage.

"You actually don’t need a lot of space,” Hiday said. “You can make a very simple compost bin out of reclaimed pallets, or I've even seen people do it with snow fence, which is a really cheap way to do it. And it's pretty effective. Composting is nature’s way of turning your leaves and grass into a valuable soil conditioner.”

For more options, you can find large registered composting facilities at Michigan.gov/EGLECompost. Smaller facilities that accept residential compost can be found in EGLE's Michigan Recycling Directory. For further questions, contact Hiday at 517-282-7546.