How to Certify Your Yard with the National Wildlife Federation

Did you know that you can turn your yard into a wildlife refuge that is recognized with the National Wildlife Federation? If you love nature, and would love to provide a sanctuary for native wildlife in your area, with just a few easy steps you can become a certified member and help conserve nature for future generations.

In order to have your property certified by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), there are a few qualifications that you must first make sure your property will meet. These qualifications are quite easy to establish, and will take very little effort or cost on your part.

Have a food source available. The first part of making sure your property meets the NWF guidelines is to ensure you have native food sources available for wildlife on your property. This can be in the form of foliage, berries, seeds, nectar and even pollen. Many of these native plants you already may have in your yard, however you can also purchase plants that are native to your area and plant them as well.

Have a water source available. Water is essential to all living things. So it makes sense that the second qualification for certifying your property with the NWF is that you have a water source available for wildlife. These water sources can be in the form of streams, ponds, bird baths or small puddling areas. If you do not have natural water sources for wildlife in your yard, you can easily create your own.

Places for cover. In order for wildlife to feel secure in your yard, they will need places of cover where they will feel comfortable to live and raise their young. It is very easy to provide both natural and man made places of cover that will help you to qualify for certification from the NWF. Allowing certain parts of your yard to grow naturally will provide cover for wildlife. You can also create areas for the animals using shrubs, brush piles and even rocks. Man made hide boxes, roosting boxes and bird houses can also provide homes and coverage for the wildlife in your yard.

Practice sustainable gardening. The way that you maintain your property will have a large effect on how suited your yard is for sustaining wildlife. Yards with large amounts of lawn area are not capable of providing an animal friendly environment, since grass lawns offer no cover, no nutrition and require frequent maintenance that can scare wildlife away, or even kill it. Types of sustainable gardening include reducing lawn areas, xeriscaping, mulching and restoring native plant life. This is all essential to having your property certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

Certify your habitat. Once you have established these criteria, you are now ready to certify your habitat with the NWF. There is an application that you will have to fill out, as well as an application fee of $15 that you must pay. With your application fee however, you will also receive your personalized certificate, an NWF membership and a free subscription to a years National Wildlife magazine and quarterly newsletter.

Filling out your application and getting your property certified is easy. Simply go to the National Wildlife Federation's website at http://www.nwf.org/backyard/, at you will be on your way to turning your home into a certified wildlife habitat.