About Spadefoot Design and Construction
Our passion is habitat restoration
We are Spadefoot. Whether in your yard, your park, or for your business, we turn sumps into bird sanctuaries, remove invasive plants and return the natives, and creating oases for native plants while reconstructing local food webs.
We build bioswales to manage storm water runoff and restore natural hydrology. We plant pollinator gardens to create local habitat for birds and for bees. We are part of a “rewilding” movement that is global, but which is particularly ascendant on Long Island, long the domain of the perfect (but lifeless) suburban lawn.
What would be growing on your property if you weren’t there? Some pitch pine in the sunny sandy areas. Oaks, maples, beeches, laurels, redbud, sassafras, bayberry, winterberry, holly, chokeberry — each thrives under different conditions, even in a half acre yard.
Spadefoot’s “softscaping” will bring out the native beauty of your property by planting what belongs there, given the soil, the light, and hydrology.
We draw from world class experts in our mission to restore habitat here locally on Long Island, to rebuild our natural infrastructure.
What can happen in your yard? How can you contribute to local nature? Reach out to us. We love our work, and you will too!
We Are Naturescapers
It is now time for the landscaping industry to be reinvented around habitat restoration. The science is clear: The practice of planting non native plants on our properties — Japanese Red Maple, English Ivy, common periwinkle, wisteria, etc. — is destroying native habitat, both in our yards and globally as these plants spread.
The results of this global practice of introducing non-natives is now everywhere to be seen. We need to reverse course to save our environment now through a massive effort of habitat restoration everywhere.
How can you help? Create native habitat in your yard. What can landscapers and big box stores do? Sell natives. Plant natives. We’ve been striving towards an unnatural beauty — insect free, exotic well manicured plantings.
Spadefoot believes that the future is in our natural past and that Nature itself is synonymous with beauty. We will make your yard beautiful and full of life.
The Spadefoot Team
We created Spadefoot Construction and Design out of our passion for Nature. Spadefoot specializes in habitat restoration, whether in your yard, or your local park, or along Main Street or on your corporate campus.
Our mission is to replant our natives and recreate the local biome. We work to return the plants, animals (and fungi) that together form the local “biome.” We plant what to our scientific determination should be growing on a given place on your property. Our field biologists ask these questions: Is the area full sun or partial or is it shaded? Is the soil sandy or loamy or clay-like? Is the area dry or wet? That helps us select the plants best suited to your property, and their arrangement.
Spadefoot Design and Construction first inventories your property. We ask these questions: What is native and a non-native and what is invasive on your property? That overview guides our planning: What will be removed, what will remain, and crucially what we will add in, given a number of native planting options.
In developing our design plans, we work with leading practitioners of habitat restoration, using the latest techniques. We have joined with other passionate naturalists in efforts, for example, to reintroduce The American Chestnut and The Atlantic White Cedar. Together, we are engaged in the collective project of returning Nature to our communities wherever that may be. We all recognized the need to reconnect with it if we are to preserve it — and ourselves.