Friday Five: Backyard Habitat Certification

Written by Heleigh Bostwick    Friday, 26 October 2012

By following these five steps from the National Wildlife Federation, you can create a backyard wildlife habitat that not only is good for wildlife and the environment, but is also a peaceful haven for you--one where you can sit back, relax, and listen to the birds twitter, the leaves rustle, and watch the hummingbirds hover. 1. Food Whether it's roots, shoots, twigs, leaves, flowers, or microorganisms and insects, wildlife, like every other life form needs a food source in order to survive and the best source of food of course is native plants that have evolved in concert with the wildlife that lives there. 2. Water Like food, water is essential. Anything that collects water is fine whether it's a pond, a tiny stream, birdbath, a shallow rock in which water pools, or a bowl buried at grade in the soil. 3. Cover Cover refers to shelter and a place for wildlife to live. A tangle of brambles for example provides cover for rabbits. Don't be so quick to thin out the shrubs or remove fallen logs and dead trees. 4. Sustainable Gardening Use environmentally-friendly gardening practices such as mulch, rainwater collection, and of course plants native to your area, most of which are naturally drought tolerant and adapted to the amount of rainfall your region receives. 5. Certification The icing on the cake is certification. Visit the NWF website to certify your backyard wildlife habitat online and share your story! Recommended reading: National Wildlife Federation Attracting Birds, Butterflies & Backyard Wildlife The Wildlife Habitat Journal - Restoring and Exploring Wildlife Habitat in Your Own Backyard Kids’ Easy-to-Create Wildlife Habitats: For Small Spaces in City-Suburbs-Countryside