Why Garden For Wildlife?

Why should I create a NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat?

1.     It's fun! Watching wildlife in action can be fun and relaxing for everyone. Your habitat may attract beautiful songbirds, butterflies, frogs, and other interesting wildlife for viewing from your very own window.

2.     Curb appeal! Replacing grass lawns with native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees will increase the beauty of your property and provide a nurturing refuge for wildlife.

3.     Bring wildlife home! Restoring habitats where commercial and residential development have degraded natural ecosystems can be your way of giving back to wildlife.

4.     Eco-friendly! Gardening practices that help wildlife, like reducing the use of chemicals, conserving energy and water, and composting also help to improve air, water and soil quality.

5.     Community! Gardening for wildlife can help you share your love of wildlife with your neighbors and help them get involved in creating a home for wildlife.

    Once your habitat is certified by NWF, you can order and display an attractive Certified Wildlife Habitat sign to convey your commitment to wildlife conservation and the environment, and help you spread the word to your neighbors.

Food Sources

    Everyone needs to eat! Planting native forbs, shrubs, and trees is the easiest way to provide the foliage, nectar, pollen, berries, seeds, and nuts that many species of wildlife require to survive and thrive.


Native plants 
    
    Are adapted to live in a particular geographic area according to the climate, soils, rainfall, and availability of pollinators and seed dispersers, among other important components. Because they are indigenous to a specific region, native plants usually require little maintenance, and are welcomed by wildlife, serving an important role in the local ecosystem.

    Since there are hundreds of plants native to the many different ecoregions of the United States, we’ve put together a map that gives you a top 10 list of native plants for your state. Please check with your state’s native plant society for even more plants indigenous to your region. You can also find many of them through our partners at American Beauties™.

Safe Birdfeeding by Alicia Craig-Lich

    Feeding wild birds is a very popular hobby, second only to gardening in North America. It is a fun, rewarding and educational hobby. Many schools and work places have added feeders to their areas. An important element of feeding the birds is taking proper care of birdfeeders, including periodic cleaning to help promote bird health and proper placement to promote bird safety.

    Keeping your birdfeeders clean is a very important part of providing a healthy feeding environment for the birds. Proper placement of birdfeeders is also important in keeping birds safe from predators.

    A 1992 study conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology concluded that 51 percent of bird deaths were caused by window strikes. Predation, predominately by household cats, caused 36 percent of bird deaths. Disease caused only 11% of bird deaths in our backyards.

    In a 1997 study conducted by the American Birding Association, cats were found to be a significant source of mortality among birds that come to feeders. It has been estimated that a single domestic household cat can kill more than 100 birds and small mammals each year.

    When you feed the birds, take the following steps to provide a safe and healthy feeding environment.

• Provide multiple feeding stations in different areas of your yard to disperse bird activity.

   

• Crowding at the feeder - which is a more common occurrence in winter months - can cause stress, which may make birds more vulnerable to disease.

   

• Clean your feeders regularly with hot water, and let them air dry completely. Also keep areas under and around the feeders clean.

   

• Keep seed clean and dry and watch that it doesn't get moldy. Offer only fresh seed.

   

• Use a seed blend that is designed for the feeder you have and the type of birds that come to that feeder. Blends that contain filler seeds or grains are not typically eaten by the birds and end up on the ground making a mess.

   

• Dry rake or use other methods to keep the area around your feeder clean.

   

• Provide seeds from a feeder rather than broadcasting/scattering seed on the ground.

   

• If possible, move your feeding stations periodically, so there will be less concentration of bird droppings.

   

• If you find a dead bird near the feeder that has not been killed by a predator, disinfect the feeders with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water.

   

• Always wash your hands after filling or cleaning your feeders.

   

• Place bird feeders in locations that do not provide hiding places for cats and other predators to wait to ambush the feeder. Birdfeeders should be placed 5' to 12' from low shrubs or bushes that provide cover.

   

• Providing a brush pile or bushes and trees 5-12 feet from feeders can provide a place for birds to hide in the event of danger.

   

Water Sources

    Wildlife need sources of clean water for many purposes, including drinking, bathing, and reproduction. Water sources may include natural features such as ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans, and wetlands; or human-made features such as bird baths, puddling areas for butterflies, installed ponds, or rain gardens.

    Climate change is threatening our sources of clean water by increasing temperatures and reducing rainfall in some areas, causing drought conditions and lower water tables. In other areas, increased rainfall and extreme weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes cause flooding and erosion of natural ecosystems and can pollute local watersheds. These problems highlight the importance of providing a constant source of clean water for birds, mammals, fish and other wildlife in their different habitats.

    Your NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat will provide water for wildlife, and sustainable gardening practices help to ensure that our human demands on water are kept to a minimum.

Places for Cover

Wildlife require places to hide in order to feel safe from people, predators, and inclement weather. They also need a sheltered place to raise their offspring.

The easiest way to provide cover for terrestrial wildlife is by using native vegetation, both dead and alive. Many shrubs, thickets, and brush piles provide great hiding places within their bushy leaves and thorns. Dead trees are home to lots of different animals, including some that provide food to woodpeckers and other species, and other wildlife that use tree cavities and branches for nesting and perching.

You can create hiding places for animals by using logs, brush or rocks, or by constructing a birdhouse made for the types of birds you would like to attract to your habitat. A roosting box for bats will give them a place to rest and/or raise their young in between their evening outings to catch insects.

Ponds provide cover for aquatic wildlife, including fish and amphibians. If you have a pond, you are already providing cover and places to raise young. A “toad abode” can be constructed to provide shelter for amphibians on land.

Many places for cover can double as locations where wildlife can raise their young, such as wildflower meadows and bushes where many butterflies and moths lay their eggs, or caves where bats roost and form colonies.

Gardening in an Environmentally Friendly Way

    How you maintain your garden or landscape can have an important effect on the health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife - as well as the human community nearby. Here are some sustainable gardening techniques that you can use to help conserve resources.

Mulching

    Mulch helps keep water in the soil and available to the plant, rather than evaporating into the air. This can help you reduce your watering time. Also, as mulch breaks down, it provides nutrients to the soil. This can help reduce the need for fertilizer. Be sure to use mulches that are from sustainable forestry practices, and that are free from pests.

Reducing Lawn Areas

    Grass lawns often require chemicals and frequent maintenance. Gas-powered lawnmowers produce high amounts of greenhouse gases, shich contribute to global warming and air pollution. Since lawns are often made of only a few types of plants that most animals do not consume, they do not provide a lot of value for wildlife. Replacing grass lawn with native wildflowers, bushes, and trees provide the food, shelter, and cover that help to maintain healthy, natural ecosystems.

Xeriscaping

    Xeriscaping is an approach to landscaping that minimizes outdoor water use while maintaining soil integrity through the use of native, drought-tolerant plants. This is a common practice in drier areas, such as the West and Southwest, where water supplies and water quality are at stake.

Rain Barrels

    Rain barrels are used to collect rainwater for use during drier months. Rain barrel water is a great way to save money, reduce the amount of chemicals used in processing drinking water, and provide a pure source of water for outdoor plants. Depending on the size of your house and the amount of rainfall in your area, you can collect a substantial amount of rainwater with a simple system.

Removing Invasives & Restoring Native Plant Communities
    
    Native plants are better for the environment than exotic plants, generally requiring less fertilizer and other additives, less water, and less effort in pest control. They are especially important to native wildlife, such as pollinators that may have coevolved with a particular species. Pollinators often rely on a certain type of flower as a source of food, while the flower depends on the pollinator to transport its pollen to other flowers for reproduction. When non-native plants are used, they oftentimes upset the delicate balance of a local ecosystem and sometimes even out-compete native species to the point of extinction. Wildlife will benefit more when native plant communities remain intact, or are restored to their natural habitats.

All you need to do is provide elements from each of the following areas:

• Food Sources. For example: Native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar

   

• Water Sources. For example: Birdbath, pond, water garden, stream

   

• Places for Cover. For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse

   

• Places to Raise Young. For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond

   

• Sustainable Gardening. For example: Mulch, compost, rain garden, chemical-free fertilizer