Put Your Rake Down! Fallen Leaves Are Healthy for Soil and Wildlife

By Jess Savage

Alicia Ramsey was outside her home doing yard work when she noticed something in the fallen leaves: the chrysalis of a butterfly.

Ramsey, who’s a watershed ecologist with the San Antonio Water Authority in Texas, said it felt like a rare moment, but fallen leaves are teeming with animals that depend on them.

“We just don't realize what's in our leaves,” Ramsey said. “People throw out their leaves, or they compost their leaves, or they mulch their leaves, not realizing how much life is actually in them.”

While it feels like common practice to rake leaves and remove them from lawns, there’s a growing movement of people like Ramsey who are treating leaves more like essential habitat for local species rather than a waste product.

To “leave the leaves” is simply allowing leaves to break down naturally over the winter. Scientists and advocates say it can be a way to help improve soil health and support wildlife populations.