Johnny Bordelon - GOLD Louisiana Certified Habitat - Ville Platte

ANPP congratulates Johnny Bordelon of Ville Platte in Evangeline Parish for his gold-certified habitat!

Johnny has lived on this 6 acres for 15 years and has been adding diversity over that time. Most is open land but about an acre is wooded. About 6 years ago he visited a native prairie and was hooked. He has been learning plant names with iNaturalist, identifying what was present already, and adding more natives (especially edible plants and pollinator magnets) from Dr. Charles Allen and The Urban Naturalist. Over the past few years Johnny has noticed the ecology bouncing back. During my certification visit, he shared that long ago he got fed up with mosquitoes and sprayed. He was broken-hearted to find he had also killed his caterpillars and other insects. He hasn't done that again! He doesn't use pesticides on his fruit and vegetable garden anymore, as his stink bug problem has mostly gone away, thanks to the predators of these pests that he now supports with native plants.

Thanks for greauxing native, Johnny!