The National Wildlife Federation sells signs like this to people who get their backyards certified as wildlife habitat.
ADVERTISEMENT
Project: Amphibian House
A critter house can be fashioned simply using an old clay flowerpot, according to David Mizejewski, manager of the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Program.
Use a hammer to break off a small section from the lip of the pot. Place the pot upside down in a shady area and voila, you have a home for frogs, toads and other amphibians. A shallow dish of water can be placed close by for more habitat appeal.
A more industrious amphibian house can be built with scrap plywood and a little manual labor.
Dig 2 inches deep into the soil about the shape of your plywood. Use several fist-sized rocks at the corners of one side to prop the plywood up in the depression. The rocks should stick out at least an inch to allow frogs, salamanders and other creatures to crawl in and out.
Add old leaves and native shrubs and flowers around the structure for more cover.
– Adapted from David Mizejewski’s Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife.
Fuzzy bumblebees hover over the sweetly scented flowers of a lavender bush as a symphony of birds’ twitters and chirps emanates from a nearby cedar tree. A fuchsia dangles its delicate purple and pink flowers over Oregon grape while strawberry plants form a lush blanket of ground cover.
The fusion of color, texture and scent surround a notebook-sized sign buried in the dense foliage declaring the quaint Alki neighborhood garden a backyard wildlife habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation.
With the right elements, any family can enjoy seeing butterflies, songbirds and little critters just steps away from their home – whether it’s a deck off an apartment or acres on the farm.
“By using our backyards as a corner of an ecosystem, we are providing habitat for all kinds of critters that need places to live,” says Bobbie Morgan, co-director of Natural Landscapes Project on Bainbridge Island. The nonprofit promotes organic gardening and natural lawn care through educational outreach programs around Kitsap County.
Creating wildlife habitat isn’t difficult, she says. It’s as simple as planting a shrub with berries and having a little saucer of water out. It’s a process the whole family can join by having little ones help build a birdhouse or keep a birdbath clean and filled with water.
“It’s all about people just raising their awareness,” Morgan says.
The other benefit is that you’re creating diversity in the neighborhood by having a variety of different types of plants, landscape architect Jennifer Carlson says.
“It’s just great to have more unusual and perhaps native plants in the area,” Carlson says.
The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has several suggestions for attracting wildlife. Adding a birdbath or bird feeder, or planting native trees and shrubs are easy ways to create some good wildlife habitat right outside your home.
Some critters, like raccoons and opossums, are not always welcome around the home, but are part of the ecosystem. The state recommends eliminating access to garbage, cleaning up around barbeque grills and keeping pets indoors as ways to help reduce attracting them.
Fish and Wildlife provides a $5 pamphlet on how to landscape for wildlife, including developing a plan and how to arrange plants. It has information on plants to attract butterflies and birds, including hummingbirds. There’s also an application form to enroll your yard as an official backyard sanctuary. Enrollment includes an outdoor sign and a certificate.
The state has partnered with the National Wildlife Federation in order to certify an outdoor space through both agencies for a total fee of $20.
Certification with the federation requires a habitat include five criteria:
• Food – A minimum of three sources, such as seeds, fruits, berries and nectar from plants or feeders is required.
• Water – A single source is fine and can be a birdbath, seasonal pond, stream or lakefront.
• Cover – There should be at least two places where wildlife can find shelter from weather and predators. Ground cover, log piles, dense shrubs, rock piles or roosting boxes fit the bill.
• Places to raise young – Critters need safe areas to court one another and raise babies. In some cases they’ll double as cover. A habitat should have at least two of these elements: mature trees, burrows, nesting box, dead trees or snags, wetland.
• Sustainable gardening practices – Planting native trees, shrubs and flowers, as well as eliminating chemicals are some ways to help wildlife. There are two requirements under this element. They can be satisfied by having a rain garden or a rain barrel to catch runoff from roofs, mulching or composting, removing invasive plants or reducing lawn areas.
For more information about getting the National Wildlife Federation to certify your backyard as wildlife habitat, go to: www.nwf.org/backyard.
