2000 FACTS

Even well-intentioned landscaping choices can create unexpected hazards for wildlife. Backyard swimming pools may become deadly traps for frogs, salamanders, snakes, turtles, small mammals, and even young birds that cannot climb back out. Outdoor cats can dramatically reduce local bird, reptile, and small mammal populations. Large reflective windows often cause fatal bird collisions by mirroring the sky or nearby vegetation. While no yard can eliminate every danger, thoughtful design can greatly reduce these risks and make your property safer for native wildlife. Wildlife Escape Ramp Wildlife Escape Ramp | Rainmaker Wildlife You probably won't find this exact design in stores, but it's easy to build your own. Place a sturdy floating or partially floating ramp that extends from the pool wall to the deck, allowing animals that fall into the water to climb out. Since reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals naturally swi...

If you have enough space, adding a domesticated grazing animal to your landscape can bring the entire yard into balance. Besides keeping vegetation trimmed—quietly and without using fuel beyond the grass it eats—grazing animals return nutrients to the soil through their manure and create an engaging, hands-on connection with nature for both children and adults. Sheep like those shown here, as well as goats or even a small donkey, can do an excellent job of controlling vegetation. However, they are difficult to direct precisely, so it is wise to fence off areas you do not want grazed or trampled, such as vegetable gardens, wildflower meadows, newly planted beds, or sensitive habitat. Livestock should always be enclosed with secure perimeter fencing to protect both the animals and the surrounding landscape. Ecological lawn mower squad | Wikipedia Commons If your pasture includes a small shelter or barn, you are also likely to ...

Whether you live in the countryside or in the middle of a city, a vegetable garden is one of the best ways to enjoy nature while producing fresh food for your table. Even a small growing space can become a productive, wildlife-friendly habitat that benefits both people and local ecosystems. Growing vegetables at home increases biodiversity while rewarding your efforts with healthy harvests. One of the most important practices is crop rotation . Avoid planting the same crop in the same location year after year, as this depletes soil nutrients and allows pests and diseases to build up. Rotating crops on a three- to four-year cycle greatly reduces these problems. Planting a diverse mix of vegetables instead of large single-crop beds also improves garden health. Different plants use nutrients differently, and many help protect their neighbors by confusing or discouraging insect pests. For example, asparagus planted near tomatoes has long been considered a ...

Soil, along with fallen leaves and decaying wood, forms the foundation of every wildlife-friendly yard. It supports the plants that will fill your landscape with life while providing shelter and food for an astonishing variety of organisms hidden just below the surface. Just as it is often better to leave a dead tree standing when it poses no safety risk, setting aside a small brush or log pile in a quiet corner of your yard can become one of the best habitats you create. The first colonizers of fallen wood are usually fungi, lichens, and, in damp places, mosses. Many fungi grow as fine threads that slowly break down wood by releasing enzymes, while specialized wood-decaying species digest the toughest fibers. Some native mushrooms are edible, but many are not, so wild mushrooms should never be eaten unless they have been positively identified by an expert. Thousands of visible and microscopic fungi work alongside insects such as termites, ...

If you’re lucky enough to live in an older home—or simply a house with an attic, basement, or crawl space—you may already have a few hidden wildlife habitats right under your roof. Quiet attics, cool basements, storage cellars, and other little-used spaces often provide shelter for a surprising variety of beneficial animals that have adapted to living alongside people. Far from being a nuisance, bats are among the most valuable wildlife neighbors you can have . They are voracious nighttime insect hunters, consuming thousands of mosquitoes, moths, beetles, and other flying insects in a single evening. Healthy bat populations help keep garden pests in check and reduce the need for chemical insecticides. Despite old myths, bats do not intentionally fly into people’s hair, and they are generally shy animals that avoid human contact whenever possible. Bats roosting in an attic Attics can be especially attractive to...

Bare walls can become far more than lifeless expanses of concrete, brick, or siding when they are covered with the right native vegetation. A well-planned living wall softens hard surfaces, cools buildings, and transforms vertical spaces into valuable wildlife habitat. Dense foliage offers shelter throughout the year, spring flowers provide nectar for pollinators, and late-summer and fall berries feed songbirds and small mammals. Thick evergreen cover can even provide safe nesting sites for many backyard birds. One of the best ways to bring wildlife into a garden is to allow climbing plants to cover fences, trellises, arbors, or selected sections of exterior walls. Native vines create layers of vegetation that support insects, spiders, lizards where present, and birds, turning an otherwise barren surface into a thriving ecosystem. In much of the eastern United States, Virginia creeper ( Parthenocissus quinquefolia ) is among the best choices. It provides...

Not everyone has a sprawling property with stone walls, old barns, or rustic outbuildings. But almost every yard or garden has overlooked places that can become valuable wildlife habitat. A small garden shed, the narrow gaps between patio stones, a stack of flat rocks waiting for a project, or even a few leftover bricks can provide safe shelter for an astonishing variety of animals. Dry-stacked stone walls are among the most valuable structures you can add to a wildlife-friendly landscape. Across North America, they provide homes for small lizards where they occur naturally, harmless snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders, native bees, beetles, spiders, and countless other invertebrates. When built with natural gaps and left undisturbed, stone walls offer much more than hiding places. Animals use them for basking in the sun, escaping predators, overwintering, and finding cool refuge during the hottest part of summer. The spaces between stones create a network ...

Colorful Moths and Secretive Geckos Anyone who says that everything looks the same after dark has probably never fallen in love with a luna moth, a regal moth, a rosy maple moth, or a white-lined sphinx. Night belongs to an astonishing variety of beautifully patterned moths, each with its own colors, shapes, and story. One of North America’s most spectacular native insects is the luna moth ( Actias luna ). With its pale green wings and elegant tail streamers, it is one of the continent’s most recognizable giant silk moths. Like many of its relatives, the adult lives for only about a week, surviving entirely on energy stored during its caterpillar stage. Before that brief adult life begins, the caterpillars spend weeks feeding on the leaves of native trees such as sweetgum, hickory, walnut, birch, and persimmon. When the adults finally emerge, they have just a few precious nights to find a mate and reproduce—a magical event that many nat...

Butterflies are among the most colorful and rewarding visitors you can attract to a backyard—right alongside birds. But if you want more than a brief visit, your garden needs to provide everything they need to complete their remarkable life cycle. With the right plants, your yard can become a place where butterflies feed, lay eggs, grow from caterpillars into chrysalises, and emerge as adults. Host Plants and Nectar Gardens Every butterfly species depends on one or more host plants—the plants where females lay their eggs and where caterpillars feed. Caterpillars often spend their entire lives on these plants until they are ready to form a chrysalis, although some species crawl away before pupating. If your goal is to raise butterflies naturally, planting the appropriate host plants is essential. To make your garden even more inviting, surround those host plants with a wide variety of nectar-rich native wildflowers , which provide...

A House Finch eating crab apples For thousands of years, people have selected and cultivated wild fruit trees to produce larger, tastier, and more reliable harvests. Many of the fruit trees now common in North America originated elsewhere before becoming part of home orchards across the continent. Apples from Central Asia, peaches from China, pears from Europe and western Asia, and sweet cherries from Eurasia are now familiar sights in neighborhoods from New England to the Pacific Northwest. But fruit trees offer far more than fresh produce for people. They create one of the richest seasonal food sources for wildlife, providing blossoms in spring, shelter through summer, and fruit that nourishes birds, mammals, and insects from late summer into winter. Apples are among the most valuable fruits for backyard wildlife. American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Northern Mockingbirds, Blue Jays, wood...