Ridgefield's Board of Selectmen has unanimously approved a policy that will require all new plantings on town property to be native plants. Native plants are defined as those that are indigenous to the Northeast United States.
The policy recognizes the importance of native plants to our ecosystem and the negative impact that non-native plants are having. Most plant-eating insects, like the caterpillar of the Monarch butterfly, can only feed on native plants and sometimes only on one specific kind of native plant.
Native plants are being out-competed in our woodlands by non-native, invasive plants that were brought to the U.S. either unintentionally in shipments of other materials or intentionally as ornamentals plants for gardens.
“We have a huge problem with invasive species in our open spaces here in Ridgefield,” notes Roberta Barbieri, a member of the Ridgefield Conservation Commission who partnered with the Caudatowa and Ridgefield Garden Clubs to bring this policy forward. “Invasives alter the ecosystem, turning a rich woodland or wetland into what is effectively an environmental desert.”
The policy’s main provision states that 100% of new and replacement trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and ground cover plantings on municipal properties will be native to the Northeast. The policy also applies to any replacement plantings, including but not limited to trees, shrubs, and perennials felled by storms, disease, redevelopment/expansion, or other reasons.
Ridgefield becomes just the second municipality in Connecticut to adopt a natives-only policy, following Newtown’s adoption of a similar policy in 2021.
More information on what plants are native to Connecticut can be found here