Leaves are Home, Not Waste: An Eau Claire Approach to Fall Cleanup
Building on Our No Mow May Success in the Chippewa Valley
Here in Eau Claire, we’ve already seen the benefits of working with nature rather than against it. Our successful No Mow May program has shown us that sometimes the best thing we can do for our local wildlife is simply to do less yard work. Now, as late summer and autumn settle over the Chippewa Valley and the maples and oaks along the Eau Claire River soon begin their spectacular show, it’s time to extend that same philosophy to our fall cleanup routines.
Those fallen leaves carpeting your yard aren’t just autumn debris—they’re winter homes for the very pollinators and beneficial insects that make our Wisconsin gardens flourish. When we rake up every last leaf and haul it to the curb, we’re not just tidying up; we’re inadvertently evicting the mourning cloak butterflies that need brush piles to survive our notoriously harsh winters, and we’re destroying the overwintering sites of native bees that will pollinate our apple trees and wild bergamot come spring.
Four Simple Ways to Support Chippewa Valley Wildlife This Fall
Leave the leaves where they make sense
You don’t need to let your yard go completely wild. Here in Wisconsin, a thin layer of leaves actually protects grass roots from our freeze-thaw cycles. Rake leaves into your garden beds, around the base of your trees and shrubs, or create designated wildlife areas, like the corner of your back yard or beside your garage . Those luna moths and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails that delight visitors to Beaver Creek Reserve disguise their cocoons to look just like dried leaves—and they’ll return the favor by pollinating your native plants next summer.
Keep leaves whole, let nature do the shredding
Resist the urge to run everything through the mower. Our Wisconsin millipedes and other decomposers are perfectly equipped to break down whole leaves naturally, recycling nutrients back into our Chippewa Valley soils. If you’re composting, create a separate leaf pile and let it decompose naturally—it’s less work for you and better habitat for wildlife.
Turn fallen branches into habitat hotspots
Those branches from our recent windstorms? Stack them up instead of hauling them away. Small carpenter bees—one of Wisconsin’s 400+ native bee species—love to nest in dead wood, and a brush pile can provide winter shelter for everything from native bumble bees to the ruffed grouse that call our county forests home.
Wait until late spring for the big cleanup
This is where our No Mow May experience really pays off. Just as we learned to delay mowing until June 1st to support early pollinators, we should wait until consistent warm weather (above 50°F for at least five consecutive days) before major garden cleanup. Our black and gold bumble bees and common eastern bumble bees are still tucked away in plant stems and leaf litter when those first warm March days tempt us outdoors.
Why This Matters in Eau Claire
Wisconsin is considered one of the most at-risk states in the Great Lakes region for biodiversity loss, but here in the Chippewa Valley, we’re taking action. The Chippewa Valley Biodiversity Partnership started with a No Mow May grant and has grown into a community-wide CV Biodiversity Partnership effort to protect our local ecosystems.
When we leave the leaves and embrace a messier approach to fall cleanup, we’re creating habitat corridors that connect our city yards to larger natural areas like the Augusta Wildlife Area and the Eau Claire County Forest. These connections are crucial for species like the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, which has been spotted in Wisconsin thanks to citizen science efforts like the Bumble Bee Brigade.
Our local native plants—from butterfly milkweed and wild bergamot to New England aster and common milkweed—depend on these pollinators. And many of those pollinators, in turn, depend on the seemingly messy habitat that winter leaves and plant debris provide.
Spreading the Wisconsin Way
As we head into another Chippewa Valley winter, let’s build on the success of No Mow May by embracing a “EC Leave the Leaves” approach. Talk to your neighbors about it. Share photos of your wildlife-friendly yard on social media with #ECLeaveTheLeaves. Show them that a few leaf-covered corners can coexist beautifully with functional outdoor spaces.
After all, we Wisconsinites are practical people. We know that working with nature instead of against it just makes sense—whether that’s delaying our mowing in May or leaving our leaves in November. Our pollinators will thank us with abundant gardens, and our community will be richer for the wildlife that calls the Chippewa Valley home.
Consider joining the Chippewa Valley Biodiversity Partnership at: https://www.cvbiodiversitypartnership.org/.