Leave your leaf-covered lawn alone: Why you don't have to rake this fall

This year, forget about spending time raking the leaves covering your lawn.

According to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), you aren't being lazy by not completing the dreaded fall task -- you're helping the environment.

Leaving your leaves out can actually be a small act of nature conservation, NCC says.

For example, backyard leaves that are left out can help your backyard diversity.

"While some butterflies travel to warmer destinations, many native insects, including pollinators, and other backyard wildlife hibernate over the winter and can use a little neighbourly help," NCC says.

"Backyard animals, such as toads, frogs and many pollinators, once lived in forests and have adapted to hibernate under leaves," says Dan Kraus, senior conservation biologist for NCC.

"The leaves provide an insulating blanket that can help protect these animals from the cold and temperature fluctuations during the winter."

Those who don't spend time raking this fall may also see soil improvement as a result.

As leaves break down, a natural mulch is created that can help enrich your soil, Kraus says. A light covering of leaves can improve the growth your grass and plants will see next spring.

Leaving out your leaves is also an energy solution. Carbon is stored in the soil as leaves break down and allowing this natural process can save the energy of trying to achieve similar results in other ways.

Kraus adds that your laziness could also save little lives over the winter.

"Plant stalks and dead branches also provide habitat for many species of insects ... by cleaning up our yards and gardens entirely, we may be removing important wintering habitats for native wildlife in our communities."

Fruits and seeds left on flowers and shrubs can be a crucial source of food in the winter months for migratory and resident birds.

"Providing winter habitats for our native birds and insects is just as important as providing food and shelter during the spring and summer," Kraus notes.

Kraus says 80 per cent of Canadians living in towns and cities makes backard biodiversity even mroe important to helping improved the health of nature in urban areas.

Rebekah Neufeld, acting science manager for Manitoba, says it's important to build our own natural connections to the world for our own health and wellbeing as well as the earth's.

"As Canadians, we have some of the planet’s last areas of wilderness, but for many of us and our children, finding that connection to nature starts at home," she says.