Building Soil Security via Rewilding Urban Landscapes

In March 2023, Earth Impact (Ei) Founder & CEO Holly Elmore announced the Ei Rewilding Rewilding Urban Landscape Pilots via a Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) article by the same name. The intro sections of this article are derived from the referenced 2023 article.

Front-yard Native Plant Landscape Pilot
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Beyond regenerative agriculture and landscape practices, rewilding land restores the natural ecosystem that evolved over thousands of years. Rewilding land requires the restoration of native plants and cultivates food for indigenous insects. Strong insect populations are the foundation for restoring wildlife-predator/prey hierarchies that once thrived prior to human intrusion.

Inherent within rewilding urban landscapes are three primary benefits: 

• Restoration of vibrant soil ecosystems and urban-wildlife populations; production of nutritious food destined for wildlife and humans.
• Drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere into the soils via plant photosynthesis.
• Establishment of food-secure neighborhoods within a community.

Homegrown National Park
Via his recent book, Bringing Nature Home, how you can sustain wildlife with native plants, Doug announces his Homegrown National Park (HNP) initiative in partnership with Michelle Alfandari, business development consultant, entrepreneur, small business owner, and retimer.

HNP is a grass roots call-to-action to regenerate biodiversity. According to Doug,

“In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators, and manage water.”

National awareness is HNP's product along with a request for the below actions on the more than 40-million acres of private lawn in the United States:

1. Reduce lawns.
2. Plant more native plants.
3. Remove invasive and/or non-native plants.

The What's the Rush 24-minute video by Doug is a superb overview of the critical status of the insect population along with simple lifestyle changes by individuals that collectively make a huge difference.

Permaculture-Oriented Landscapes (POL)
In the previously referenced video, What's the Rush?, Doug refers to POL as ecological landscapes with the following four purposes:

• 

  Banana compost circle
  Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images
  

  Support food webs, human and wildlife.
• Sequester carbon.
• Clean and manage water.
• Support pollinators.

Ei partners with Zach Zildjian Design Services (ZZ Design) on promoting POL. Per Zach Zildjian, an ecological landscaper, POL have three main components:

• Food forest (perennial food production.)
• Vegetable & herb gardens (annual food production.)
• Compost of landscape debris as well as home-food waste.

Ei Rewilding Urban Landscape Pilots

When she returned to her hometown, Sarasota, Florida, after residing in Atlanta for four decades, Holly dedicated her nearly 8,500-square-foot yard to two rewilding pilots. 

The Holly Elmore Images (HEI) Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes album documents the pilots' progress in a series of photo galleries.

Ei Native-Plant-Landscape Pilot
Native-plant landscapes provide urban wildlife access to food and habitat. When "cide-*" free, native-plant landscapes provide wildlife a safe haven amid urban life filled with buildings, roadways, and often sterile and/or toxic open areas.

Local wildlife evolved to thrive on native foliage and, in general, do not eat or nest in non-native plants. Additionally, many non-native plants are invasive and choke out native plants, further challenging urban wildlife.

2021 Installation Day
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Holly's front yard was designated for only native plants with a focus on food and habitat for local urban wildlife. First steps included removing the non-native, decorative plants from prior residents and smothering the existing grass.

Pamela Callender of Lifelines consulted, designed, purchased the plants, and installed the native-plant landscape on November 18 & 19, 2021.

The HEI album, Ei Native-Plant-Landscape Pilot, documents the the front-yard evolution through a series of photo galleries.

* "cides" are defined as herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides.

Ei Backyard-Permaculture Pilot

The backyard pilot follows POL practices with an emphasis on human-food-producing plants. A food-waste-compost circle surrounded by banana trees is integral to the design. Thus, the general rule for the backyard landscape: any non-native plants must produce human food and/or provide direct soil-ecosystem benefit.

Food forest post-maintenance
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

While the front-yard landscape is strictly native plants and was installed over a two-day period, the backyard pilot is an evolutionary process. For nearly nine months, the backyard was permitted to return to its "wild state" with abundant plant diversity; a variety of happy insects frolicked in the knee-high grass infiltrated with flowering plants.

Beginning in early 2021, the backyard was slowly "tamed" with mulched paths, a banana compost circle, a row of native-blueberry bushes under the roof dripline, a pollinator garden, a food forest, and a raised herb-garden area with sun protection. Once the invasive carrotwood tree was removed, the south-side yard was opened to ample sunshine and prepped for a vegetable, herb, and edible-flower garden.

No herbicides or soil tilling were used in the taming process; Holly hand-weeded the majority of the areas before prepping for its destination.

The HEI album, Ei Backyard-Permaculture Landscape Pilot, documents the backyard's evolution through a series of photo galleries.

Pilot Evolution
Since their 2021 and 2022 respective installations, the Pilots evolved via the original plants thriving and reseeding themselves along with planting additional foliage. Urban wildlife discovered the urban oasis and thrive with abundant food and ample habitat for nurturing the next generation.

The food forest and surrounding gardens
support healthy soil ecosystems.
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Located on Florida's Central Gulf, Sarasota experiences extreme weather events from severe drought to floods and destruction from tropical storms and hurricanes. Thus, healthy soil ecosystems are critical to the Pilots for survival within droughts, hurricane-force winds, and torrential rain. 

Regular maintenance days scheduled several times annually include mulch and natural fertilizers (fish emulsion, liquid kelp seaweed, worm castings, compost, and other natural products) applications, pruning, and new-plant installations are essential to nurturing healthy soil ecosystems. Daily maintenance includes weeding to keep invasive species at bay, hydration as necessary, and general observation of plant health.

2024 Hurricane Trilogy

The second half of the 2024 hurricane season was brutal to Florida's Gulf Coast: three hurricanes - Debby, Helene, and Milton - made landfall in two months, with Helene and Milton less than two weeks apart. Each hurricane wreaked havoc with different flavors of destruction.

Fallen oak tree branch from Milton
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

The Pilots are located three miles inland from Sarasota Bay and were directly impacted by the three hurricanes.

With their own personality and parameters, Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton arrived in and left the Sarasota region with unique damage and destruction.

Debby, a rain event
In early August, then Tropical Storm Debby brought 18 inches of rain to Holly's backyard, flooding the lower-yard levels yet not her home. Two weeks earlier a low-pressure system ended the severe drought with 16 inches of rain in two days. Thus, the area ground was saturated when Debby's rain arrived. Within a day or so, all water dispensed by Debby was absorbed into the healthy soils.

Note Debby remained a tropical storm when she visited the Sarasota area and later garnered the energy to segue into a hurricane.

Helene, a storm-surge event
On September 26, Hurricane Helene moved north through the Gulf around 100 miles off the Florida Central Gulf Coast. Predictions included 4 - 7 feet of storm surge on the Sarasota barrier islands and bay-front coastline. Due to Helene's 100-mile distance offshore, many were surprised when the storm surge arrived as predicted; the storm surge completely flooded the barrier islands and dropped tremendous volumes of sand on roadways and in homes and businesses. The destruction was devastating.

In Sarasota, minimal rain accompanied Helene with Holly recording approximately two inches of rain at her home. Thus, Helene left minimal impact on the Pilots.

Milton, a wind event
At 8:30 pm on October 9, Milton made landfall on the southern portion of Siesta Key, one of Sarasota's barrier islands, as a Category 3 storm; two days earlier Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane breaking records as one of the most powerful storms in the Atlantic basin. Holly's home is less than ten miles from the landfall point.

Hurricane-wind ravaged garden
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

For nearly an hour, Milton's eye hovered over the Sarasota region gifting residents with the surreal silence inherent within the eye of a hurricane.

Though the area lost tremendous elder tree cover, the predicted obliteration of the Sarasota barrier islands did not manifest. A good portion of the region was without power for a week or more.

The HEI gallery, 2024 Hurricane Trilogy, documents that significant damage to the Pilots by Milton. Yet, the damage did not compare to the nearby destruction experienced by Suncoast residents.

2025 Pilots Maintenance
Six months after surviving the ravage of the 2024 Hurricane Trilogy, the Pilots were ready for serious maintenance as well as new plant additions. The maintenance timed perfectly with the three-year anniversary of the food forest planting.

The HEI gallery, 2025 Rewilding Pilots Maintenance, documents the profound maintenance. For most of the photo series, images are in reverse chronological order, beginning with post-maintenance, followed by pre-maintenance, and completed with the initial installation. It was inspiring to witness the evolution of the Pilots, both from hurricane resiliency and maturation.

Inspiration 

Pollinator Garden in POL Pilot
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Ei introduced the Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots to inspire others to build soil security via rewilding their yards and other urban landscapes.

Though Ei no longer hosts formal Pilot tours, individuals often request private tours for inspiration on what can be done in their yards or to simply bask in the magical energy. Holly frequently gifts seeds and seedlings to fellow local gardeners who always exchange with bounty from their abundant yards.

Though the pilots were complete yard transformations, Ei supports taking small, manageable steps; it is important to take whatever steps flow for the individual or organization. Celebrate successes, share with friends and family, and join the Homegrown National Park!

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About Earth Impact:

Earth Impact (formerly Elemental Impact) (Ei) is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 as the home to the Zero Waste Zones, the forerunner in the nation for the commercial collection of food waste for compost. In June 2017, Ei announced the Era of Recycling Refinement was Mission Accomplished and entered the Era of Regeneration (June 2017 - June 2024). Focus areas included Nature Prevails, Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture, and Water Use | Toxicity.

The Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) Magazine articles, From Organic Certification to Regenerative Agriculture to Rewilding Landscapes: an evolution towards soil integrity and SOIL & WATER: the foundation of life, published to explain and substantiate the importance of Ei’s rewilding urban landscapes work within the Nature Prevails focus area. What We Eat Matters is an emerging platform that intertwines within the three focus areas.

As Ei enters the Era of Impact (June 2024 – present,) gears shift to a new business model, Ei Educates. Though education was always integral to Ei’s important work, the  primary focus was on projects, pilots, and initiatives supported by Ei Partners. The Regeneration Era focus areas carry over into the Era of Impact.

With the publishing of the March 2025 RiA Magazine article, Water Security: a pending to realized crisis, the Water Use | Toxicity platform evolved into the Water Security platform.

The Holly Elmore Images Rewilding Urban Landscapes-album folder documents two active pilots: the Native-Plant Landscape Pilot and the Backyard Permaculture-Oriented Pilot. The Ei Pilots serve as an educational program.

MISSION:

To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.

Ei’s tagline – Regeneration in ACTION – is the foundation for Ei endeavors.

The following mantra is at the core of Ei work:

Ei is a creator, an incubator.

Ei determines what could be done that is not being done and gets it done.

Ei brings the possible out of impossible.

Ei identifies pioneers and creates heroes.

For additional information, contact Holly Elmore at 404-510-9336 | holly@earth-impact.org.