James Carli’s Post

Thanks to my local paper, Transylvania Times, for publishing my letter on how to save #fireflies in Thursday’s edition: Protect fireflies We all love seeing the bright glow of fireflies in the late spring and summer, but I’m sure many of us have noticed that they seem to be fewer and fewer in number each year. Now that it is autumn and the leaves are beginning to fall, here is an important notice about how to ensure we protect our firefly population for next year. Fireflies spend 95% of their lives in their larval stages before becoming the adults that we love to watch glow. Adult fireflies lay their eggs in leaf litter and moist soil, where they hatch and live as larvae for 1 to 2 years before becoming the glowing adults. This autumn please don’t rake or blow the leaves off your lawn. Instead, allow them to lay on your lawns so that they can provide #habitat to fireflies and many other creatures. Here is a list of tactics we can deploy to protect fireflies, from the website of the Arlington Regional Master Naturalists, ARMN.org. Some inventive tips for attracting fireflies: •Don’t rake leaves and put them on the curb. You are raking up firefly larvae and throwing them away. •Collect paper bags of leaves to make “bag compost.” Collect five-15 bags. •Wet bags down in a shady lawn area. Keep moist/wet for three to six months or up to a year. •Bags will attract snails/slugs. This is food for growing fireflies •In spring, put bag compost in your #garden. Put it in mounds and work it into your soil. •Repeat each year. It might take as long as five years, or as quick as that same year, to get fireflies in your garden. For more information, go to www.firefly.org. Even if you don’t want to do the bag compost, simply leaving fallen leaves on your #lawns will go a long way toward supporting our fireflies. Thank you for doing your part to protect this cherished #insect. James Carli, Brevard #SDG15 #ThirdNatureHoldings #REALifeFramework #Biodiversity