Parkland City Update
Department: City Administration
Revised December 21, 2007

Ten Reasons To Garden For Wildlife And Certify Your Yard As A Backyard Wildlife Habitat?

1. It's fun! You'll attract beautiful songbirds, cheerful butterflies and other interesting wildlife to your yard. Watching wildlife can be fun for the whole family.
   
2. It's relaxing! The natural environment of your habitat will provide a peaceful place to relieve stress and unwind, day or night.
   
3. It makes your yard more attractive! Replacing barren lawn with beautiful wildflowers and other native plants that will increase the appeal of your property and will provide a nurturing place for wildlife.
   
4. It nurtures and supports wildlife all year! Habitat restoration is critical for wildlife where commercial and residential development has eliminated most natural areas. Wildlife especially needs your help during the dry winter months.
   
5. It benefits the environment! Gardening practices that help wildlife, like reducing chemicals and conserving water, also help to improve air, water and soil quality throughout your neighborhood.
   
6. It rewards you! NWF will recognize your dedication to creating a place for wildlife in the modern world. When your habitat is certified, you'll receive a handsome, personalized Certificate of Achievement suitable for framing, recognizing your yard as part of the National Registry of Backyard Wildlife Habitat sites. With your permission, NWF will also send a prepared press release to your local newspaper announcing your certification.
   
7. It expands your gardening knowledge and lets you share your love of wildlife with others! Once certified, you'll receive a subscription to the quarterly newsletter, Habitats, providing you with a steady supply of tips and projects to maintain your Backyard Wildlife Habitat site year after year.
   
8. If your yard is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat site, you are eligible to order and post an attractive yard sign to convey to your friends and neighbors your commitment to wildlife conservation and the environment.
   
9. As soon as you certify your yard or garden space, you will automatically become a member of National Wildlife Federation with full membership benefits, including a year's subscription to the award winning National Wildlife magazine.
   
10. Most of all, with your Backyard Wildlife Habitat Certification, you will be helping the City of Parkland to be a certified Community Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation!!!!

Backyard Wildlife Habitat Certification:

Through the Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, you will learn how to restore wildlife habitat in your own yard, balcony, workplace or even your entire community. Once you create your habitat, you can submit an application and get your yard certified to help the City of Parkland achieve its goal as a Community Wildlife Habitat.

• Step One: Backyard Wildlife Habitat

It's fun! You'll attract beautiful songbirds, cheerful butterflies and other interesting wildlife to your yard. Watching wildlife can be fun for the whole family.

It's relaxing! The natural environment of your habitat will provide a peaceful place to relieve stress and unwind, day or night.

It makes your yard more attractive! Replacing barren lawn with beautiful wildflowers and other native plants will increase the appeal of your property and will provide a nurturing place for wildlife.

It nurtures and supports wildlife all year! Habitat restoration is critical for wildlife where commercial and residential development has eliminated most natural areas. It benefits the environment! Gardening practices that help wildlife, like reducing chemicals and conserving water, also help to improve air, water and soil quality throughout your neighborhood.

• Step Two: Food

You might think the easiest way to provide wildlife with food is to put out a bird feeder. But there’s
actually an even easier way, which is to plant native plants.

Native plants are species that have evolved to live in your area. They normally don’t need much
maintenance once you have them settled in to your garden

• Step Three – Water

Bird baths are an easy way to provide water for wildlife. You’ll be amazed by the flurry of activity around a bird bath. The key to having a successful bird bath is to change the water at least every other day. This keeps the water fresh and ensures mosquitoes do not use the water.

• Step Four - Cover and Places to Raise Young

Wildlife need a place to hide in order to feel safe in your yard. They also need a more long-term shelter to raise their young. The easiest ways to provide native vegetative cover is to use existing vegetation, dead and alive. Many native shrubs provide great hiding places within their bushy leaves, and dead trees are home to lots of different wildlife. You can also construct hiding places using logs, brush or rocks.

• Step Five - Gardening in an Environmentally Friendly Way

How you manage your garden or landscape can have an affect on the health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife - as well as the human community. Following 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.

Reducing Lawn Areas - Lawns often require chemicals and if you used a gas-powered lawnmower, the engines in these machines are often very polluting. Since lawns are often made of only a few types of plants, they do not provide a lot of value for wildlife who benefit in ecosystems with diverse plants.

Xeriscaping - Is an approach to landscaping that minimizes outdoor water use while maintaining soil integrity through the use of native, drought-tolerant plants.

Removing Invasive & Restoring Native Plants - 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 stabilize soil and reduce erosion; they more effectively filter storm water than exotic plantings, thus improving water quality; and they promote biodiversity.

• Step Six - Certify Your Habitat

Submit an application to the National Wildlife Federation (available at http://www.nwf.org) and encourage others to certify their yards. Let others know how easy it is to create a habitat for wildlife.

Through the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, you will learn how to restore wildlife habitat in your own yard, balcony, workplace or even your entire community. Once you create your habitat, you can submit an application and get your yard certified to help the City of Parkland achieve its goal as a Community Wildlife Habitat.

It's fun! You'll attract beautiful songbirds, cheerful butterflies and other interesting wildlife to your yard. Watching wildlife can be fun for the whole family. It's relaxing! The natural environment of your habitat will provide a peaceful place to relieve stress and unwind, day or night. It makes your yard more attractive! Replacing barren lawn with beautiful wildflowers and other native plants will increase the appeal of your property and will provide a nurturing place for wildlife. It nurtures and supports wildlife all year! Habitat restoration is critical for wildlife where commercial and residential development has eliminated most natural areas. It benefits the environment! Gardening practices that help wildlife, like reducing chemicals and conserving water, also help to improve air, water and soil quality throughout your neighborhood.

Submit an application to the National Wildlife Federation (available at http://www.nwf.org search Backyard Wildlife Habitat) and encourage others to certify their yards. Let others know how easy it is to create a habitat for wildlife.