Natural Yard Care
Puyallup's Stormwater webpages offer tips and resources for caring for your yard naturally and reducing stormwater runoff pollution at home. While homeowners strive for a picture-perfect yard, lawn and landscaping, most also don't want to wash their "money down the drain." Learning to follow a few, simple yard care guidelines for watering, planting, and fertilizing/feeding will help your yard, your pocket book, and protect our natural water resources!
Natural Yard Care Resources
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - EPA webpages on environmental stewardship
- WSU's Guide to Backyard Composting
- WSU Master Gardener Program: Stewardship Gardening
- Puyallup's Rain Gardens - cost-share program to install rain gardens and rain barrels
- Build your own rain barrel: How-to Guide (PDF)
What to Do With Fido's Poo?
That little plastic baggie that you use to scoop up your pet's waste may be useful on the go but at home it may be excessive. Plastic bags take many years to decompose at landfills. Keep picking up the poo though, because if it is left in the yard it washes away with the rain or irrigation and into our stormwater system and streams. Yuck. Try placing the poo in the waste can without a plastic baggie, use biodegradable baggies, paper bags, or flush it!
Impact of a Single Tree
Check out the National Tree Benefit Calculator and see the impact a single tree can make. A tree planted at home can increase your property value and provide a number of environmental benefits.
Stormwater Runoff Is Polluting Puget Sound
You've heard that Puget Sound is polluted, right? Think about this: nearly 75% of the pollutants in Puget Sound come from stormwater runoff. That's rainwater from roadways carrying oil and pollutants, irrigation runoff carrying pesticides and fertilizer, and soap from residential car washing.
Pesticide Use
As many as 23 pesticides have been found in Puget Sound streams - many coming from stormwater runoff from roadways and yards. These chemicals poison wildlife and absorb oxygen in water, contributing to dead zones.