How To Garden For Wildlife

Wildlife gardening is both simple and complex.  The actions required to support wildlife on your property are the easy things.  Animals (and by them I mean insects too, as they are an integral part of the wild thing food pyramid) need: food, water, shelter and a safe place to raise their young.  These things can be easily accomplished, once you have set your mind to it. 

It is the mindset that is complex it seems.  To garden effectively for wildlife, you must give up some closely held traditions.  For instance, no lawn maintained with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers is going to support wild animals.  Are you ready to go pesticide and herbicide free ?  This means making peace with weeds.  Can you do that ?  Though, this disturbing study released in the Spring, which found Roundup pesticides in Breast Milk of US Mothers, should give every one a reason to not go the herbicide route: http://sustainablepulse.com/2014/04/06/worlds-number-1-herbicide-discovered-u-s-mothers-breast-milk/... .

Making peace with weeds and some insects also means a different approach to pest control, including mosquitos. I attempt to control them by draining or organically treating standing water, and by encouraging bats and other mosquito predators.  Here is an excellent fact sheet on these: http://www.wbrcouncil.org/Departments/Mosquito-Abatement/Natural-Mosquito-Killers

However, in the last two weeks, several neighbors have applied some sort of pesticide and painted mulch that stinks, and has had an impact on the number of pollinators we are seeing.   I know that the neurotoxin permerthrin has been used.  And as I smell something, daily around our yard, I am wondering if those neighbors with sprinkler systems are using “misting systems” that contain this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifenthrin. If so, all of my efforts to garden for wildlife will be essentially cancelled, by competing expectations.  I work towards, and expect, our yard to be a haven for wildlife.  I try to provide food: our lawn is the bunny buffet. We have not used fertilizers, weed killers or pesticides in the 20 years we have lived here.  

We provide water.  Daily, in hot weather (like today).  Working on a budget, we have managed to put “watering holes” and birdbaths down in several areas.  On the side of the house that does not have an outdoor spigot, we have installed a rain barrel.  This (organically treated for mosquito larvae) water is held in repurposed flying (snow) saucers.  The native plants I can locate locally to feed those species (such as Monarch butterflies who will only lay eggs on milkweed), are watered with this rain barrel too.  

Pollinators can (if they can make it here through the chemical fog) feed on our native plants.  I am hoping the hummingbird returns as well.  I have done everything I can do to attract them.  But right now, I have attracted one very confused bumble bee.  We don’t know what was wrong with it, but it was relocated to some blooming natives in hopes it would survive. 

There is plenty of shelter here too.  By shelter I mean low growing shrubs that small mammals and birds can call home.  We even have left some dead, but not dangerous to anyone, trees for woodpeckers.  

If you are interesting in sharing your land, the best source of information is the National Wildlife Federation’s Habitat Certification Program: http://www.nwf.org/How-to-Help/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx . The Audubon Society also has a Backyard program.  The archives are here: http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/backyard/gardening.html . The subscribe link there is no longer active, but the Society has a newer initiative online: http://web4.audubon.org/bird/at_home/Healthy_Yard.html .

Healthy yard indeed!  We are anxious to host wildlife families. But so far, we are not succeeding.  Remember, we share our land, even our own yards, with Mother Nature. It would be nice if we shared buffer zones between yards.  I have one that continues to grow.  I only wish that expectations and priorities on the other side of the fences were in sync with mine.

*Note on photo, much to my horror, I discovered that the plants over our watering hole are not native Solomon’s Seal.  A good native plant guide would have been useful !  If I had a cell phone (I don’t, such a luddite!) I would download this app from the Pollinator Partnership: http://pollinator.org/beesmartapp.htm.