On the right, ORI Summer interns (L to R) Anand Fedele, Ken Stephens, and Zeke Cochin.

The Ocean River Institute’s Natural Lawn Care for Healthy Soils Challenge recently visited Revival Coffee in Somerville. The challenge is a friendly competition with towns competing to keep established lawns natural by forgoing the use of quick-release fertilizer and chemical pesticides and herbicides. Established lawns do not need quick-release fertilizer. The Department of Agricultural Resources recommends one application of 100% slow-release fertilizer in the spring or fall.

ORI Summer interns distributed stickers featuring happy worm and springtail, and people went online to join Somerville Greens Team. ORI’s goal is for more natural lawns to provide refuge and natural corridors for more wildlife to create bigger and more emerald bracelets town by town to compliment Boston’s Emerald Necklace.

Five ORI summer interns have found 17 reasons why not to put fertilizer on the lawn during summer months. In Somerville, the top five reasons for not spreading fertilizer on established residential lawns were:

5) Stop nutrient (fertilizer) runoff polluting waterways, feeding algae blooms.

4) Natural lawns have greater biodiversity, more animal species.

3) Living in natural, non-watered lawns were found 94 species of bees.

2) Mycorrhizal fungi networks, the wood wide web, store more carbon.

1) Improved wildlife habitats when fertilizer is not applied to established lawns.

ORI invites you to take the challenge, make the pledge on the website, and tell us about your priorities for your lawn. Launched in 2007, Ocean River Institute provides expertise, services, resources, and information unavailable on a localized level to support efforts of environmental organizations. Please visit www.oceanriver.org for more information.