{"id":1276,"date":"2014-10-07T15:19:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T20:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/?page_id=1276"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:26:07","slug":"curb-your-leaves","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/?page_id=1276","title":{"rendered":"Leaf Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keep fall leaves and other yard waste out of the street!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fall brings cooler temperatures and changing colors on our trees which can result in raking. While raking leaves isn\u2019t rocket science, some leaf-raking practices can be harmful. Raking leaves into the street clogs storm drains, causing street flooding; if they don\u2019t clog but rather wash down into the storm drains they become a storm water pollutant. The additional nutrients from the massive amounts of leaves decomposing in creeks, streams, or lakes removes oxygen from the water, suffocating plants and wildlife, and causing algae blooms that can result in bad odors and unpleasant tastes in drinking water.
\nThe Ecology Action Center urges residents to help keep our local waters clean by using the following leaf management practices:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Let leaves lie! Leaving your leaves where they fall is zero effort and beneficial for your lawn.
    \nMany residents dislike the look of fallen leaves and thus choose to use a mower to break them
    \ninto smaller pieces as you get some of the same benefit with less visual mess. Leaves make
    \ngreat mulch to protect flower beds from harsh winter weather and also allow earthworms and
    \nother microorganisms to decompose the leaves and turn them into plant-usable organic matter.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Compost your leaves! Leaves are a great source of carbon and an important dry component to
    \na healthy compost pile. Starting a compost pile reduces your waste, keeps waterways clean, and
    \nis an easy generator of free fertilizer for your lawn and garden. Find helpful instructions to start
    \nyour compost pile at CompostBN.org.<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Don\u2019t break the cycle! The above two options keep your organic material on-site, rejuvenating
    \nyour soil with valuable nutrients just like the nutrient cycle occurring in nature. Removing your
    \nleaves each year can gradually deplete your soil, leaving your lawn, your trees, and your garden
    \nhungry for nutrients. Keeping these materials on-site also helps reduce demand for collection,
    \nconserving financial resources for other municipal services.<\/li>\n
  4. Curb your leaves! If you rake your leaves for curbside pick up, the municipalities require that you
    \nrake them to the curb, but NOT into the street.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For more information on leaf collection in Normal<\/a><\/p>\n

    For more information on leaf collection in Bloomington<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Keep fall leaves and other yard waste out of the street! Fall brings cooler temperatures and changing colors on our trees which can result in raking. While raking leaves isn\u2019t rocket science, some leaf-raking practices can be harmful. Raking leaves into the street clogs storm drains, causing street flooding; if… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":203,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"iawp_total_views":437,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1276","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7JFqd-kA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1276"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494,"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1276\/revisions\/2494"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcleanwater.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}