How to Get Your Yard Wildlife Habitat-Certified

If you enjoy gardening to bring beauty to your landscape, you can up your game by consciously making it a welcoming home for butterflies, birds, bees and other beneficial wildlife. Read on to learn how to get your yard certified as a Wildlife Habitat.

By: Gloria Ballard

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Photo By: National Wildlife Federation/Jennifer Storm

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Photo By: National Wildlife Federation/Deborah Roy

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Photo By: National Wildlife Federation/Betsy Franz

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Photo By: National Wildlife Federation/Deborah Roy

What Makes a "Habitat"

The National Wildlife Federation, which has been helping US wildlife survive and thrive since it was founded in 1936, has been certifying individual gardens and yards as Wildlife Habitats since 1973, says Mary Phillips, head of the nonprofit organization’s Garden for Wildlife program, which issues the certifications. “To have your property certified, you need to commit to five elements,” she says: food, water, cover, places to raise young, and sustainable practices. To date, the organization lists 265,000 certified Wildlife Habitats across the US, and the program continues to grow. The organization has developed a new program, Plant With Purpose, offering collections of native plants customized by region that benefit wildlife. The program is currently available to gardeners in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest, and plans to expand to other regions in the near future. “People are still really committed to this,” Phillips says. “We are thrilled to see that.” Ready to get your garden certified? Here’s how…

Provide Food

Every creature needs to eat. In fact, the National Wildlife Federation notes that 96 percent of backyard birds rely on insects and other invertebrates as the only source of food for their babies. They note, too, that the bird population in North America has declined by almost one-third in the last 50 years due to habitat loss and reduction of native plants, thus fewer insects. Your home habitat can provide food for birds, insects and other wildlife in the form of plants that provide seeds, berries and fruits, nectar and pollen. Bird, squirrel and butterfly feeders also qualify in the "Food" category for certification.

Help Them Find Water

Birds, insects and everything else in your garden needs water to survive and thrive. If you live near a lake, stream or spring, you may already have the water your wildlife habitat needs. If you are completely landlocked, you can provide water in a water garden, small pond, rain garden, bubbler or other water feature. Encourage the collection of water in vernal pools – natural depressions throughout the landscape that hold water for a time before they dry up and disappear. These play a critical role by supporting amphibians and other species, the National Wildlife Federation advises. Even a birdbath kept filled with fresh water can satisfy the water needs of more than just birds.

Give Them Cover

Shelter is important for wildlife species to be able to survive. Brush piles and leaf litter are not just places wildlife can hide from predators, though. They’re attractive as places to lay eggs, to give birth, stay cool in the shade underneath or lay out on top in the sun. Consider the butterflies; statistics show that Monarch butterfly populations have declined dramatically. Though population numbers vary year to year, the eastern population has been down 90 percent and the western population over 99 percent. Some species of butterflies and moths overwinter in leaf litter; when they emerge as caterpillars, they’re an important food source for many bird species. Dead trees also serve an important purpose, providing vital habitat for more than 1,000 species of wildlife, the NWF says. Nesting boxes and bat houses also count toward the requirements for certification as a Wildlife Habitat.

Provide Places to Raise Young

For species to thrive, they need to reproduce, and that means they require an environment suitable for bringing up the next generation. Many places used for cover also serve as places to raise wildlife babies — the mature trees, dense shrubs and nesting boxes, naturally, but also, depending on the species’ requirements, the dead trees and rotting branches, wet areas, leaf piles, burrows and host plants for different insects.

Practice Sustainability

Most serious gardeners are already familiar with practices that provide healthy soil, and know about the best ways to irrigate and conserve water in the landscape. We compost food scraps and use mulch. To snag a Wildlife Habitat certification from the National Wildlife Federation, a gardener commits to not using chemicals in the landscape, and other sustainable habitat practices. “Neonicotinoids (a class of chemical used as an insecticide) are known to harm birds,” says Mary Phillips, head of NWF’s Garden for Wildlife program. Using native plants and organic practices for pest management, and eliminating use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers are key components in certification as a Wildlife Habitat. When you've fulfilled the requirements, you can visit the NWF website to start the certification process.

Best for Wildlife Habitats: Native Plants

Native plants — those that occur naturally in a region and are not species imported from other parts of the globe — are the core of a wildlife habitat garden, says Mary Phillips. They succeed best when planted where their growing requirements are met. They thrive in the soil, moisture and weather of that particular region, which means less supplemental water and fewer pest problems requiring control with chemicals. Some wildlife species rely on specific plants — for example, there are approximately 4,000 species of wild native bees in North America, but about 30 percent of these are pollen specialists, meaning they only gather pollen from specific native plants. “One of the things the public doesn’t know is that a lot of wildlife can’t survive if these plants are lost,” Phillips says. With the right plants, individuals can create a habitat that makes it easier for wildlife to thrive.

Plant With Purpose

To make it easier for gardeners to develop a Wildlife Habitat, NWF’s Garden for Wildlife program launched Plant With Purpose plant collections that are chosen by scientists and customized by region to support the highest number of butterflies, bees and birds. The collections may be ordered online and delivered to homes in 20 states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest, with plans to expand to other regions soon. “Last year, we saw a 50 percent increase of people gardening,” Mary Phillips says. There was also an increase in plant purchasing, she says, but only 14 percent of plants in the commercial market are native. “We’re working with growers in different regions to provide nice combinations of native plants. We provide a plan that gets consumers what they need.”

Wildlife + Plant Partners

There is a wide range of native perennial plants that support bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife. Garden for Wildlife collections for sunny gardens include orange butterfly weed, lanceleaf coreopsis, smooth blue aster and stiff leaf goldenrod. This collection supports 144 species of butterflies, 102 species of birds and 96 percent of backyard birds. Garden for Wildlife collections for part-shade gardens include wild geranium, beard tongue foxglove, great blue lobelia and black-eyed Susan, and they support 41 butterfly species, 32 species of bees and 96 percent of backyard birds.

Find the Best Plant Species for Wildlife

Even if you’re in one of the states not yet covered by the Garden for Wildlife Plant Collections program, there are many native choices that you can add to your perennial and annual beds. To discover new ideas, National Wildlife Federation offers a plant-finder database that allows gardeners to search for appropriate native plants by zip code. Other plant finders are available at the The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the National Audubon Society. “Right where we live, we can make a difference in sustaining these beautiful wildlife species,” Mary Phillips says. “At the same time, we’re beautifying our spaces and communities, and providing plants that are crucial to species’ survival.”

Now that you know the steps to achieve certification, make it happen and display your Wildlife Habitat sign proudly. And who knows — you may start a ripple effect in your neighborhood and beyond.

How to Get Your Yard Wildlife Habitat-Certified

Related To:

Shop This Look

What Makes a "Habitat"

Provide Food

Help Them Find Water

Give Them Cover

Provide Places to Raise Young

Practice Sustainability

Best for Wildlife Habitats: Native Plants

Plant With Purpose

Wildlife + Plant Partners

Find the Best Plant Species for Wildlife

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