Tips

How to Create Your Own Backyard Wildlife Habitat

The Gottlieb Native Garden is a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat, and yours can be, too. Any piece of land, patio, balcony or roof—of any size—is eligible for certification through the National Wildlife Federation if it meets a set of criteria. Of course, you can reap the benefits of a wildlife habitat even if you’re not interested in obtaining certification.

Good backyard wildlife habitats must:

Provide food

At the Gottlieb Native Garden, hummingbirds buzz around hanging feeders, while other birds and insects feed on the hundreds of native plant species placed there to provide sustenance. To become certified, a garden must provide food for wildlife: ideally, a combination of plants indigenous to that area and hanging feeders to supplement the natural food sources.

Supply water

It’s critical to have a water source for wildlife to drink and bathe in, and there are many natural or man-made options: ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans and wetlands, and birdbaths, puddling areas, installed ponds, or rain gardens. Especially in California, as frequent drought conditions threaten natural water sources, maintaining consistently clean water is more important than ever. The easiest way to meet this need is to install a birdbath — but be sure to change the water two to three times a week during warmer months. Best to install a pump to keep the water moving and avoid mosquito infestation and algae growth.

Create cover

The wildlife your property attracts will need some sort of shelter to hide from people, predators and bad weather. Shrubs, thickets and brush piles are great options; even dead trees work for some species. Man-made hideouts such as bird, bat and bee houses provide ample cover for the birds and pollinators you’ll want to attract.

Give wildlife a place to raise their young

Creating a wildlife habitat in your backyard is about creating a place for the entire lifecycle of a species to occur, from tadpole to frog, from caterpillar to butterfly. For the young to survive to adulthood, wildlife need places to birth and raise their young, protected from predators, weather and human beings. Some of the plants and structures that provide cover can also provide places to raise offspring, but at least two of the following must be present: mature trees, meadows or prairies, nesting boxes, wetlands, caves, host plants for caterpillars, dead trees or snags, dense shrubs or thickets, water gardens or ponds, or burrows.

Help wildlife thrive with healthy habitat

All wildlife depend on healthy, functioning ecosystems to survive. If you meet the above four requirements, but don’t garden in an environmentally friendly way, you are supporting the more specific needs of wildlife without fulfilling the most basic ones. Including native landscaping and using sustainable gardening practices are the final criteria for a backyard wildlife habitat. Mulch is a material (decaying leaves, bark or compost) that a gardener spreads around a plant to enrich or insulate the soil; by keeping water in the soil for the plant’s use, it reduces evaporation and cuts down on water consumption. Replacing grassy lawns with native and/or drought-tolerant wildflowers, ground cover, bushes, and trees minimizes the need for maintenance, watering, and chemical inputs including pesticides. Finally, removing invasive species to restore the healthy relationship between coevolved pollinators and plants helps wildlife and plants thrive.

Certification requires garden design that serves wildlife needs. Some call this type of gardening “ecosystem gardening,” for the emphasis it places on supporting the living things within a functioning ecosystem.