Thank you for reaching and your interest in sustainably managing ticks.

Unfortunately it is difficult to avoid ticks entirely as they naturally occur in many of our landscapes, especially in more natural areas like your establishing meadow. Lone star ticks are generalist feeders and can feed on a wide range of small mammals with one of their key hosts being white-tailed deer. These deer can carry the ticks long distances. 

What can help is identifying certain areas of your landscape that may be "hot spots" for ticks to either avoid these areas and/or to take preventive measure to protect yourself before entering these spots. Ticks tend to be found in wooded areas, tall grass or brush, the edges where woods and lawn meet (0-3 meter zone), in leaf litter, under ground-cover plants, and around stone walls and woodpiles where small mammals, particularly mice, may be. Some preventative measures include wearing or treating clothes with insect repellent, tucking tall socks into long pants, and checking yourself and/or pets for ticks after entering these areas.

Here are some credible resources on ways to reduce tick habitat by the University of Maine Extension and the University of Rhode Island:

• https://extension.umaine.edu/ticks/management/landscape-management/
• https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/prevention/protect-your-yard/

TickEncounter, a program by the University of Rhode Island, is a great resource for up-to-date credible resources on ticks, like their top 5 actions for protecting yourself from ticks in your yard.

There are a range of generalist predators that feed on ticks, including spiders and birds, but their predation alone is unlikely to eliminate ticks in a given area. Supporting these predators, such as birds and spiders, by creating diverse, native plant–centered habitats can be beneficial, but based on current evidence, predation alone is not sufficient to effectively prevent or control tick populations. For more information on tick biological control, please see this University of Maine webpage.

We cannot prevent all ticks from our landscapes, as other animal carriers of ticks like deer and mice can freely move in and out of our greenspaces, but there are things we can do to reduce preferred tick habitat and/or be mindful of tick habitat while using other protective measures and regular body checks.

Leaving leaf litter is still an excellent way to provide critical habitat for many of our native insect species.

The main areas of concern with leaf litter habitat is when leaves are located at the edges where woods and lawn meet (0-3 meter zone). This can sometimes be habitat for ticks like the blacklegged ticks.

To reduce the likelihood of tick encounters, while still supporting beneficial insects, you could consider keeping leaf litter in areas of your landscape that are infrequently used. In higher-traffic areas, leaves can be removed or relocated to lower-use spaces. This approach focuses on mitigating risk, reducing the chance of encountering ticks, rather than eliminating all present tick habitat, since tick habitat can also be habitat for other wildlife.

It does not have to be all or nothing when it comes to leaving the leaves. If you are concerned about leaf piles in certain high traffic areas in your landscape, you can selectively relocate or remove them while leaving leaves in other spaces.