The Homegrown National Park® is a grassroots movement aimed at regenerating biodiversity and ecosystem function by encouraging individuals to plant native plants and create new ecological networks.
The mission of the Homegrown National Park® is to regenerate biodiversity and ecosystem function, recognizing that every human and creature on this planet needs diverse and highly productive ecosystems to survive.
The call-to-action is for individuals, including property owners, homeowners, land managers, ranchers, hobbyist gardeners, farmers, and anyone with some soil to plant in; even a windowsill garden will work.
The plan is to start a new habitat by planting local native plants and striving to remove the most invasive plants.
This collective effort will catalyze a larger conservation project aimed at restoring local ecosystems and creating new ecological networks.
The goal of the Homegrown National Park® is to plant 20 million acres of native plants in the U.S., which represents about half of the green lawns of privately-owned properties.
The urgency of this call to action is underscored by the critical point at which we find ourselves, where we risk losing so many species from local ecosystems that their ability to provide ecosystem services such as oxygen production, water filtration, flood control, pollination, pest control, and carbon storage will become seriously compromised.
Doug’s message is a solution-based action that encourages small efforts by many people to create new ecological networks that will enable plants and animals to weather normal population fluctuations indefinitely.
The Homegrown National Park® is a term coined by Doug and is the key to this call-to-action, which seeks to extend national parks to our yards and communities.
The map is an interactive visualization that shows each person’s contribution to planting native plants by State, County, and Zip Code. The map also includes a gauge showing progress towards the goal of 20 million acres of native planting in the U.S.
The Homegrown National Park® movement invites everyone to start digging and to contribute to the larger goal of restoring biodiversity and ecosystem function in their local communities.
The hashtags #onthemap and #startdigging can be used to share progress and encourage others to get involved.