Naturescaping
Encyclopedia
Naturescaping is a term that refers to a method of landscape design
and landscaping
that allows people and nature to coexist. By incorporating certain plants, especially native ones, into ones yard, one can attract beneficial insect
s, bird
s, and other creatures, and help keep our river
s and stream
s healthy.
Extensive urban growth and urban sprawl
over the last century has had a significant impact on habitat
that birds and other wildlife once called home. Homeowners with yards and garden
s have a unique opportunity to curtail this loss of habitat by creating their own backyard wildlife garden, a wildlife sanctuary.
The EPA has worked together with the Department of Homeland Security to encourage energy independence and reduce needs for hazardous materials. Water and energy use in residential landscaping accounts for x% (please site correct figure) of the total water and energy use in the country. The EPA has found that one hour of lawn mowing contributes as much smog pollution as driving 10 cars for one hour (about 650 miles).
Since the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing with explosives made from fertilizer, the distribution and use of household and garden chemicals has been more closely scrutinized. By providing alternatives, their use can be reduced.
Landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.-Design scope:...
and landscaping
Landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...
that allows people and nature to coexist. By incorporating certain plants, especially native ones, into ones yard, one can attract beneficial insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, and other creatures, and help keep our river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s and stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s healthy.
Extensive urban growth and urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
over the last century has had a significant impact on habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
that birds and other wildlife once called home. Homeowners with yards and garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s have a unique opportunity to curtail this loss of habitat by creating their own backyard wildlife garden, a wildlife sanctuary.
Origins
Naturescaping takes some of its principles from the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "GreenScaping" or "Beneficial Landscaping" programs - which strive to reduce water, energy, and chemical usage. Nature scaping is an organic discipline of this practice, that is easily adapted to backyards.The EPA has worked together with the Department of Homeland Security to encourage energy independence and reduce needs for hazardous materials. Water and energy use in residential landscaping accounts for x% (please site correct figure) of the total water and energy use in the country. The EPA has found that one hour of lawn mowing contributes as much smog pollution as driving 10 cars for one hour (about 650 miles).
Since the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing with explosives made from fertilizer, the distribution and use of household and garden chemicals has been more closely scrutinized. By providing alternatives, their use can be reduced.