Get Your Backyard Certified By The National Wildlife Federation

For those of you who keep up with Team Benya, you know that we have a family home down in the northern neck of Virginia. This home is a really special place for all of us, and I feel a deep attachment to it, as that’s where I got to really be a kid. I can’t even count how many memories I have of riding my bike through the woods, hunting fossils on the shore, building my own crab pots and taking the boat out every weekend to bring in my catch. It’s a simple life down in Virginia – we have no cable TV and unless we want to make the 15-minute drive to the library, no access to the internet either. This is great, as it makes us spend time in and appreciate our environment – something I think gets lost in our every day hustle and bustle of city life.

Spring is one of the best times to do this down in Virginia – flowers begin to bloom, the tweeting of birds permeates the air and the fruit trees begin bursting with flavor – last week our cherries ripened, and it’s been a mad dash to harvest them before the birds do. Soon the same will have to be said for our peaches, pears, figs, apples and grapes. My new rescue dog, Riley, plays his own game of “Boppit” trying to stop the fiddler crabs from dashing into their holes in the creek mud, the bluebirds and chickadees are nesting in the boxes originally intended for the purple martins and we have a baby red-winged blackbird who has parked itself underneath one of Marsha’s many birdfeeders.

This past weekend as I was watching the otters play in creek and the great blue herons jabbing their beaks into the mud to catch their dinner, I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was to have this as my backyard. In fact, I have decided to contact the National Wildlife Federation to have our yard become a Certified Wildlife Habitat! This is something that anyone can do – while we’re lucky enough to have a creek and fruit trees in our back yard, all you have to do is follow a few simple steps to create your own little piece of paradise where you live. Whether it’s on a 10-acre farm, a quarter-acre yard in a suburb, or an apartment balcony, you can create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas. All you have to do is follow a few simple steps provided by the National Wildlife Federation:

1. Provide Food for Wildlife

Everyone needs to eat! Planting native forbs, shrubs and trees is the easiest way to provide the foliage, nectar, pollen, berries, seeds and nuts that many species of wildlife require to survive and thrive. You can also incorporate supplemental feeders and food sources.

1. Supply Water for Wildlife

Wildlife need clean water sources for many purposes, including drinking, bathing and reproduction. Water sources may include natural features such as ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans and wetlands; or human-made features such as bird baths, puddling areas for butterflies, installed ponds or rain gardens.

1. Create Cover for Wildlife

Wildlife requires places to hide in order to feel safe from people, predators and inclement weather. Use things like native vegetation, shrubs, thickets and brush piles or even dead trees.

1. Give Wildlife a Place to Raise their Young

Wildlife needs a sheltered place to raise their offspring. Many places for cover can double as locations where wildlife can raise young, from wildflower meadows and bushes where many butterflies and moths lay their eggs, or caves where bats roost and form colonies.

1. Let Your Garden Go Green

How you maintain your garden or landscape can have an important effect on the health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife–as well as the human community nearby. Reducing chemical use, composting, mulching and reducing turf grass in your yard are important steps to gardening greener.

1. Certify!

Once you have provided these essential elements to make a healthy and sustainable wildlife habitat, join Team Benya and the thousands of wildlife enthusiasts across the country who have earned the distinction of being part of NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program.

Have you decided to certify your backyard? Share your photos with Team Benya and we’ll include them in our website!

For more information on how to certify your backyard, visit the National Wildlife Federation’s website at http://www.NWF.org.

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Thomas Benya (301) 653-1499 ThomasBenya@gmail.com

Marsha Benya (301) 653-9846 MarshaBenya@gmail.com

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