There may be a benefit to leaving the leaves on your yard this fall, according to Michigan EGLE.

Compost program coordinator Aaron Hiday says letting the leaves remain on the ground through the fall, winter, and early spring helps nourish the soil and provide a habitat for wildlife.

“Leaving them in place will actually help not only with the soil but also with pollinators. So if you grow a garden, that layer of leaves becomes a blanket for things like caterpillars and things like that, that are going to actually live under the leaves, under the snow during the winter.”

Hiday noted that while some people may not be able to leave their leaves all over their yard, they can collect them and put them in their garden.

“There are a lot of folks that actually break their leaves up and put them straight into their garden because it essentially becomes a slow-release fertilizer and a mulch because it’s also going to suppress weeds,” Hiday says.

Of course, if you don’t want to leave the leaves on the ground, you can pick them up. You can also rake them up and take them to a compost facility.