Thunder Bay considers allowing natural lawns, which means front yards in the city could look like this

As summer weather settles in for the season in Thunder Bay, people are getting out and mowing their lawns, but city councillors are considering a rule change that would let people leave their yards looking more natural with local plant species. 

Still, that doesn't mean people can stop mowing.

The new yard naturalization bylaw — a draft of which was presented to council on Monday — would allow residents to replace turf grass with native plants.

"This is a systemic change that will move the dial on some pretty important files," said Andrew Foulds, Current River councillor, and EarthCare committee chair. "It will help us work toward achieving net zero, because by allowing the naturalization of yards, if one chooses to do that, you will be capturing much more carbon than you did historically."

Foulds said naturalized yards also increase biodiversity in the city.

"Because you have that strength in biodiversity, local biodiversity, you have a more tolerant ecosystem that can withstand what inevitably will happen, and that's more severe storms," Foulds said. "Not only are you going to protect your personal property, you will also serve to protect some natural infrastructure."

"And by having increased biodiversity, of course, we'll also be supporting things like pollinators, which also serve a hug function in terms of reproduction of plant species."

The new draft bylaw, information about which is included in the agenda for the June 20 council meeting, would allow an entire property to be naturalized and allows for logs and trees to be included in natural gardens.

Only certain plant species would be allowed, however, and turf lawns will still be limited to a maximum height of eight inches (under the bylaw, a turf lawn is not the same as a naturalized lawn, and therefore different rules apply).

Though a growing number of people across Ontario are considering making the switch to a more natural, some still face resistance from neighbours. For example, bylaw officers in London receives about 3,000 complaints each year about unkempt or overgrown yards. 

In Thunder Bay Kyla Moore, has been leading the charge to bring in the new change and first brought up the issue at a council meeting last year. 

"There is a lot of confusion about the term naturalization," Moore said. "Some people think that it means just allowing your turf grass to grow long and then it's natural, but that's that's not what we're talking about here."

"This naturalization is sort of a process of ecological restoration on private land, so it would include removing turf grass, for example ... and replacing it with indigenous species."

Moore said while naturalized yards do require maintenance, they don't need as much maintenance as turf grass, so there are less CO2 emissions from equipment like lawn mowers, as well.

"I think it is a bylaw that we can be proud of in Thunder Bay," Moore said. "I think it aligns with the city's plans and strategies which have goals and objectives regarding climate change and biodiversity support."

The proposed bylaw only deals with private property. The city is also considering a bylaw that would allow naturalization of boulevards, but that is a separate document that will go through its own approval process.

The proposed bylaw is scheduled to go back before council next month for debate, and a vote.