Green spaces in Australian neighbourhoods are being “wasted” and costing the average Aussie homeowner thousands of dollars out of pocket every year.
Aussie ‘Bee Man’ Clancy Lester has shed light on the “wasted” nature strips and verges that Australian taxpayers are paying “extortionate prices” for local councils to maintain.
The 25-year-old Victorian man, bee lover and environmental educator has slammed green spaces that are “useless”.
He said they instead could be filled with native plants that were not only better for biodiversity and native bees but low maintenance — cutting costs for homeowners.
“There’s a time and place for a lawn, I love going for a picnic or playing footy, but the amount of money we are wasting just for these lawns that aren’t being used for picnics or playing sport,” he said.
Councils spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money to mow and maintain lawns, including on the road verges that were not being used and were terrible for biodiversity, he added.
Clancy Lester, bee lover and environmental educator, has highlighted the wasted green spaces in neighbourhoods that Australians are paying for. Picture: Supplied
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“I’ve been encouraging advocacy, to speak at their local council meetings and speak to their local councillors who are responsible for the prices, permits and guidelines and to take a more encouraging stance on these gardens,” he said.
“Native gardens do free work for pollinators and biodiversity.”
Clancy Lester compares grass nature strips to verges filled with native gardens. Pictures: Supplied
Homeowners and renters could also implement a native garden, which are easy and more affordable than maintaining lawns or other non-native plants.
“We do have these biases that we think hedges and oaks trees and plain cottage gardens look better, but it’s not as good for biodiversity and for the climate in your area,” he said.
Native nature strips are better for the environment and easier to maintain than lawns. Picture: Supplied
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Making simple changes to front and back yards that could encourage native pollination was easy and could even be done in pots for renters, he added.
“It can be something really simple. Go to your local nursery in the native area, see what’s native for your area and go and buy them,” he said.
He said it was also worth looking at your local council website, which often did free native plan collections.
“Depending on which council you belong to there are subsidies where you can get free plants to plant them in your backyard or your nature strip,” he said.
Cumberland City Council and Canterbury-Bankstown Council recently gave away free native plants to local homeowners, and many councils did similar initiatives.
He also said there were fun ways to get kids involved, by creating bug hotels.
Mr Lester says bug hotels could increase biodiversity. Picture: Supplied
“Bug hotels are good for biodiversity. It can be as easy as getting some bundles of stems branches and hanging them off a branch and drilling in a box of wood,” he added.
Mr Lester also encouraged Australians to pay attention to First Nations knowledge and seasons to care for native gardens.
“There’s massive Indigenous knowledge around the seasons, for example in Melbourne the trees are starting to change their colours. Autumn is not an Australian thing, a lot of native trees don’t do that,” he said.
Mr Lester among native plants. Picture: Supplied
“When you think about replacing lawns with native plants, they’ve been living here for thousands of years, they’re more drought resistant and know how to survive,” he added.
“There are so many upsides once we bite the bullet.”
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