Body Botany is proud to promote the National Wildlife Federation

 

Certify Your Habitat

Anyone can create a welcoming haven for local wildlife. Turning your yard, balcony container garden, schoolyard, work landscape, or roadside greenspace into a Certified Wildlife Habitat® is fun, easy, and can make a lasting difference for wildlife.
 

This online application is for single site properties only. International, national or regional businesses and corporations are required to contact the National Wildlife Federation at corporatehabitats@nwf.org for certification opportunities.

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How You're Helping Wildlife

Rapid and large-scale changes to our lands and waters mean wildlife are losing the habitats they once knew. Every habitat garden is a step toward replenishing resources for wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, and amphibians—both locally and along migratory corridors.

When you certify, your $20 application fee supports the National Wildlife Federation's programs to inspire others to make a difference and address the issues leading to declining habitat for wildlife nationwide. A portion of your fee also supports work for local wildlife in select affiliate partner states.

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Wildlife Habitat Champion Partner Spotlight

We are proud to continue our long-term partnership with Wild Birds Unlimited® who work to help protect and restore vital habitats by inspiring people everywhere to participate in NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat® program. Wild Birds Unlimited has been bringing people and nature together for over 40 years as specialists in bird feeding and nature products, expert advice, and educational events. Thank you!

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Certification Requirements

Certified Wildlife Habitat® applicants are asked to confirm they’ve provided the required number of elements for each of the following:

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• Food

• Water

• Cover

• Places to Raise Young

• Sustainable Practices

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A balanced Certified Wildlife Habitat supports the above elements with goal of  50-70% Native Plants that provide multi season bloom and are free of neonicotinoids.  

Before applying, download the checklist on their website to ensure you have met all the requirements for your wildlife garden.

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When you certify you will become a member of the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife™ community and receive the following benefits:

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• Personalized certificate

• A one-year membership in the National Wildlife Federation and subscription to National Wildlife® magazine

• 10% off the National Wildlife Federation catalog merchandise, including nesting boxes, feeders, birdbaths, and other items to enhance your wildlife garden

• Subscription to monthly Garden for Wildlife e-newsletter with gardening tips, wildlife stories, and other resources

• Exclusive option to purchase attractive garden signs designating your garden as a Certified Wildlife Habitat® with the National Wildlife Federation

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There are two ways to receive your sign:

• Certify and you'll have the option to purchase a sign.

• Already certified? Log into your wildlife federation account and purchase a sign.

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Initial findings from studies of 24 National Wildlife Federation certified habitats across the country suggest that wildlife gardening, if adopted on a wider scale, can help boost biodiversity: the variety of life that gives ecosystems their resiliency. This research was conducted as part of an ambitious four-year study American Residential Macrosystem: Yard Futures, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

Learn more about this study directly from the panel of NSF researchers in the webinar, You Built It and They Came: The Science Supporting Your Wildlife Habitat Garden. They discuss the study findings and how wildlife gardening can help boost biodiversity, impact soil and microclimates, and potentials for expanding.

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These properties can connect corridors of habitat necessary for migratory species between natural and larger protected areas of habitat on state, municipal and federal lands. They provide a continuum of resources if planted with a rich diversity of native plants and trees to supply the food chain for insects and the animals who depend on them. (Tallamy, 2007)

Another study examined whether or not the matrix of homes and private properties between and near habitat patches (like parks, riparian areas and other natural areas) in Cook County, IL (Chicago Area), plays a role in supporting healthy migratory and resident bird population.

The study found that “streets with bird-friendly yards had almost twice as many species as those without.” The study also indicated that the presence of a variety of native trees provides habitat complexity and is crucial to making these yards more bird-friendly. (Belaire, Whelan, Minor, 2015)

Since 1973, property owners who have Certified Wildlife Habitats with the National Wildlife Federation, have witnessed this sort of evidence first hand. More recently, specific studies have been conducted in which these certified properties were compared with nearby non-certified properties.

Research on Certified Wildlife Habitats confirmed that property owner commitment to providing the four elements of habitat, food, water, cover, and places to raise young, while practicing sustainable gardening and landscaping—made a real difference:

Certified Wildlife Habitat properties provided more abundant and higher quality wildlife habitat relative to non-certified yards. (Drake, Widows, 2014)

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Specific Results for Wildlife and Nature

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Certified Wildlife Habitats resulted in high percentages of:

• Wildlife that is present and observed on a daily basis, in particular, migratory wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, along with small mammals.

• Indicator species, such as monarch butterflies, bumblebees, and frogs. Indicator species are those that are moderately affected by disturbances to ecosystems and can act as an index of ecosystem health. Experimental small-scale flower patches increase bee species density. (Maria-Carolina M. Simao, 2017)

• Tree coverage than neighboring non -certified sites, improving water retention, minimizing erosion and surface habitat. Significantly, reduced carbon and air pollution properties was evident. In fact, National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitats sequester 811.62 metric tons of CO2 annually more than their non‐certified neighbors. (UCLA, 2013)

• Native plants supporting wildlife than neighboring non-certified sites.

• Water conservation and stormwater runoff management through groundwater permeability.

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Benefits to People

Other literature along with participant self-reporting shows that habitat owners spent more time outside and that the overall increased oxygen producing vegetation, the visual interest and color of their active wildlife garden, and tree coverage had beneficial effects on both people and the ecosystem.

 

“Garden as if life depends on it.” Doug Tallamy

 

Sources

Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants. Douglas W. Tallamy, Timber Press, 2007

Evaluating Certified Wildlife Habitats and the Minds Behind Them. Practicum in Environmental Science. Jennifer M. Chan, Terry H. Chen, Yuxin Jin, Nicole M. Tachiki, Sara L. Vetter, Megan L. Vyenielo, Gina Y. Zheng. University of California Los Angeles. Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. 2014

Impact on the National Wildlife Federations’ Certified Wildlife Habitat Program on Mammalian Species Richness in Urbanized Residential Properties. Katherine L.M. Busch. Thesis, George Mason University, VA. 2013
Evaluating the National Wildlife Federation's Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program

Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 129, Issue null, Pages 32-43. Steffenie A. Widows, David Drake. 2014.

Having our yards and sharing them too: the collective effects of yards on native bird species in an urban landscape. J. Amy Belaire, Christopher J. Whelan, & Emily S. Minor (2015). Ecological Applications 24(8), 2132–2143. DOI: 10.1890/13-2259.1.

Certify Your Habitat to Protect Wildlife!