Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • February 6, 2013 and natural plants. It may be a reach, but bats are good for you. USDA and Audubon also point out that while bird feeders attract the most common species of birds, the best way to attract a variety of birds, and to help those bird species in need, is to encourage the growth of native species of plants and shrubs. The native trees and shrubs provide nesting, roosting, and foraging places for wild birds and are especially important due to the loss of natural habitat due to development, or over-development. Many northwest Bergen County’s communities have set aside impressive amounts of wildscapes, but the birds still need help and they will not get it from outside developers who clear-cut trees and think of “natural beauty” as something that looks like a parade ground. Been there, done that, did not much like it. At ease! Dismissed! The Rutgers University Extension Service also encourages people to plant the most appropriate native and natural plants, and they have agricultural advice on tap for anyone who is interested. The service can also explain which plants will attract butterflies, which pollinate some types of plants. Native plants are winners. They are good for birds, butterflies, bats, ground water, and the atmosphere. Some of the advice in the multicolored folder may be a trifle optimistic. Residents are urged to show their neighbors their natural and native plants, and “challenge” them to grow the same. Sometimes this will work, and sometimes it will not. People with young families who come here for the schools often come here from neighborhoods where cars have trouble slipping between the houses to the garage and they see a lawn as part of suburbia. They often have the idea that a front yard must invariably consist of a couple of flowering shrubs and a manicured lawn and that they have to maintain the property values with a conformist appearance because the house is their single big asset. Telling these worthwhile folks to improve their lives by growing what they see as “weeds” in their backyards and welcoming bats into their belfries may not play well. The vision, however, is glorious. I see people wandering around at sunset talking about which birds enjoy eating which seeds, and looking for Punxsutawney Phil so they can thank him for six extra weeks of nice weather instead of snow and ice. Perhaps that is how Phil can help us. He can remind us, even on a silly level, that the natural world is more important than maintaining some sort of suburban image from the days of “Ozzie & Harriet” when we are draining too much water into the rivers and too much carbon into the atmosphere. Is Groundhog Day silly? Of course it is! Is it any sillier than expecting politicians to defend the environment from eventual collapse? Let’s ask Punxsutawny Phil to settle that one for us. He won’t even have to turn over in his sleep to give us the answer. All he has to do is yawn. Now that we have gone back to politics as usual, who will save us from global warming? Punxsutawney Phil! Punxsutawney Phil and his spouse Punxsutawney Phyllis are groundhogs who live in the Punxsutawney Library in Pennsylvania. Once a year, Phil is taken to a burrow on Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania to do his thing. After some chilling pre-dawn rituals, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from the burrow and looks around to see what all the fuss is about. Legend has it that if he sees his shadow, we can expect another six weeks of frigid winter. Punxsutawney Phil is a celebrity. He has been on the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” has been featured in a film called “Groundhog Day” -- not a speaking part -- and has been given the freedom of England’s City of York. Phil is said to be 123 years old and sustained by magic elixir, but he has yet to go to York. Either somebody told him about the food or he watches “Downton Abbey,” where York is the site of the grim-looking prison where “Bates” is kept locked up after being framed for murder or poisoning his suicidal wife. Many people would like to visit Highclere, the actual Downton Abbey castle. Few would like to visit that prison, which must be a nightmare for the York Chamber of Commerce. Then again, maybe Punxsutaweny Phil thought they said New York. Phil has his own Beanie Baby and an animatronic clone who picks lottery numbers. Now he has to save us. How can he do this? Groundhogs do not live in neatly cropped rectangular lawns. They live on ground covered with natural foliage. If every family had its own domestic groundhog oracle, the reduction of lawn in favor of vegetative diversity would not only keep Ridgewood from turning into Venice every time we have a major rainstorm, but would produce the sort of oxygen by photosynthesis that we need to reduce the carbon imprint. Punxsutawney Phil can do this for us if we offer him a home. Artificial turf cannot do this for us. A publication by the United States Department of Agriculture augmented by the Audubon Society, “Creating a Healthy Yard,” provides a nuts-and-bolts description of how to do this. The top headline on one side says: “Invite Birds, Bats, and Butterflies to Your Yard.” Some people may balk at bats, but face it: Bats do a much better job of reducing the mosquito population than chemical insecticides. I fondly remember spending a couple of warm summer evenings sprawled on the surface of my son’s solar-heated swimming pool waiting for “Bennie the Bat” to show up. When Bennie arrived -- you could see him zipping around over the mildly illuminated pool eating mosquitoes -- it was time to go inside, not because Bennie might bite us, but because he might let some mosquitoes get past him. USDA and Audubon report that a single bat can eat up to 600 mosquitoes an hour. They recommend installing bat houses 10 feet or more off the ground on the side of buildings facing the morning sun, and Audubon provides online instructions. Bats also help pollinate some plants and, by ingesting and egesting fruit, help seed other plants, especially native Can Punxsutawney Phil save us from global warning? Glen Rock Crews remove downed tree Crews from PSE&G and a local tree service responded to a downed tree on Grove Avenue in Glen Rock. One utility pole snapped when the tree fell, but the PSE&G troubleshooter on the scene advised that no homes lost power. However, two street lights were damaged in the incident. Traffic on Grove Avenue was detoured while crews removed the tree and replaced the utility pole. (Photos courtesy of Boyd A. Loving.)