These prairie winecups are among the plants native to Colorado. Photo by the National Wildlife Federation.

Whatever the reason, Denver-area gardeners seem to be increasingly interested in indigenous flowers, grasses and shrubs. Every May for the past seven years, the Boulder office of the National Wildlife Federation has been a key stop for those gardeners. The staff sponsors what’s believed to be a one-of-a-kind event in the Denver area – an all-native plant sale.

Ranger Rick helps one of the volunteers at the 2012 National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Sale. NWF Photo

NWF: What are some of advantages of native plants?
Eirin: There are quite a few advantages. I would say first and foremost is the habitat value. There are certain native insects that will take nectar only from the native wild flowers. Secondly, I would say the plants do not need the increased fertilizer. They do not need, for the most part, high irrigation. Since they are native plants, they can exist on very low fertilizer, just what exists in the soil, and also exist on the precipitation we get in this area. And the native plants are perennials, so you’ll get to enjoy them year after year. They’re not something you’re going to have to pull up every season. They’re going to pop up every spring.

NWF: How do native plants benefit wildlife?
Eirin: When you plant natives, you’re creating an insectary. What I mean by that is you’re creating a place for beneficial insects to reside that are either going to pollinate our vegetables or fruit trees or they’re actually going to eat or kill some of the pests in our garden. We have 17 species at the plant sale that are honey-bee attractors. We also have hummingbird-attractor plants, plants that are good for butterflies and also plants that are wonderful nesting habitat for our local bird species.

NWF: Do native plants require less water than non-native plants?
Eirin: If they’re planted in the micro-climate that they’re supposed to be planted in, they exist on what is termed moderate to low water. That’s water two or fewer times a week.

NWF: Is interest in native plants growing?
Eirin: I think so. I’ve only lived in Denver for three years, but since (the drought in) 2002, with the low water use, people began to get interested in low-water-use plants and that naturally turned toward some of our indigenous plants in the area. It’s so important for us to be using native plants to show the landscape vernacular that used to exist here – the prairies, the grasslands. The native grasses are wonderful habitat and foundation plants in the landscape. The keystone species to our short grass prairie is blue grama and it’s host to a Colorado alpine butterfly. A taller grass species, big bluestem, is host to two rare skipper butterflies.

NWF: Does Denver plant native vegetation in its parks?
Eirin: We have the more traditional parks that I think a lot of people are familiar with, which has the Kentucky bluegrass. Starting in 2006, conversion sites were defined, starting with four parks in the city. They were converted to short-grass prairie. So, there’s been a large movement. Now, just in my district, I have about 350 acres of native short-grass prairie areas. We’re going to be seeing less and less Kentucky blue grass and more native areas being planted.

The columbine is one of the most popular native plants of Colorado gardeners. Photo by John Gale.

Outside Denver? You Can Still Go Native!

Learn more about choosing and cultivating native plants, then turn your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat ® site. This month only, Garden For Wildlife Month, NWF will plant a native tree in your honor when you certify your property.

Nuttall’s woodpeckers feeding their fledgling in Los Osos, California

Photo by Donald Quintana

Gardening For Wildlife

Create habitat for woodpeckers and other wildlife species in your yard or garden by providing food, water, cover, and places to raise young. Learn how to make your home a Certified Wildlife Habitat™!

A pair of bald eaglets in West Newbury, MA (MA Energy & Environmental Affairs on Flickr)

Success Story

First, the good news. Massachusetts announced this week that bald eagles, once completely wiped out in the state, are now soaring to a strong comeback:

Officials from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) verified 30 active nests in the Commonwealth, including eight nests along the Connecticut River, six at the Quabbin Reservoir and four along the Merrimack River during Massachusetts’ first Bald Eagle nesting survey. The survey, coordinated by the DFG’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) and involving agency staff and 35 volunteers, was conducted on April 5, 2013.

In addition to the principal bald eagle nesting territories along the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers and at Quabbin Reservoir, other active nests were observed at Wachusett Reservoir, and in the towns of Framingham, Brookfield, Pittsfield, Webster, Middleborough, Fall River and Plymouth. One nest failure was reported at Assawompsett Pond in Lakeville, where the wind blew a nest and two eggs out of the nest tree in early April. Additional eagle sightings were reported in Arlington, Carver, Lunenburg, Russell, Sandisfield and along the Housatonic River.

Bald eagles, the largest bird of prey native to Massachusetts with a body length of about 3 feet and a wingspan of up to seven feet, have increased in numbers in Massachusetts since being reintroduced to the Quabbin Reservoir between 1982 and 1988. The species was down listed from Endangered to Threatened status in Massachusetts in 2011 and removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

To report a bald eagle sighting in Massachusetts, email the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program natural.heritage@state.ma.us.

Mercury’s Threat to Bald Eagles

Bald eagles, our national symbol & once common across North America, were pushed to the brink of extinction by the pesticide DDT, pollution from heavy metals like mercury, hunting, habitat loss, and other factors. While we stopped using DDT, banned hunting, and restored what Aldo Leopold called our land ethic, mercury pollution remains a major threat to bald eagles.

Heavy metals are emitted through the burning of fossil fuels and are washed to our waterways, then bioaccumulate in predators at the top of the food chain:

• If a small fish eats 50 mercury contaminated plants.
• And a large fish eats 100 small fish
• And an eagle eats 100 large fish.
• 50 x 100 x 100 = 250,000. The concentration of mercury in the eagle is 250,000 times larger than it was in the plankton.

It’s not uncommon for sick bald eagles to test positive for mercury poisoning.

Presenting Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, with comments from NWF’s activists.

A Fighter for Wildlife

That’s why it’s so critical for America’s wildlife that Gina McCarthy is confirmed as Environmental Protection Agency administrator as soon as possible. She has a long track record of experience limiting mercury pollution at both the state and federal levels, working for both Democrats and Republicans. Appointed by Gov. William Weld (R-MA) to be executive director of the administrative council at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, McCarthy ran the nation’s largest pollution prevention program, called the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Program.

Then working as head of the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation, McCarthy oversaw development of the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) setting emission limits for power plants in order to reduce mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution. The MATS rule will not only protect wildlife, it will deliver huge public health benefits for Americans, preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks every single year.

But polluter allies in Congress are working hard to block Gina McCarthy’s confirmation. Republicans on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee refused to even show up for a vote, delaying McCarthy’s confirmation indefinitely. “Given Gina McCarthy’s long record of non-partisan public service, it’s inexcusable for her nomination to be politicized by senators prioritizing industrial polluters over public health protection,” said Larry Schweiger, president & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. Some of those senators did, however, make time that same morning for fundraisers with lobbyists for big polluters like BP & Exxon Mobil.

Ask your senators to protect wildlife by giving Gina McCarthy a clean vote.

A male northern cardinal feeds its mate a beetle larva in a Brandon, Mississippi, backyard. Insects, which rely on native plants, are critical food for birds, particularly during the breeding season. Photo by Paul Brown.

I didn’t appreciate just how important native plants are, however, until I began to work a story, “Urban Renewal,” published in the current issue of National Wildlife magazine. Reporting for the article, which describes various ways residents of cities and suburbs can help birds, I interviewed wildlife-gardening guru Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, and read his book, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.

Tallamy’s key message was that native plants are essential to producing the insects birds need, particularly during the breeding season. “Birds do not reproduce on berries and seeds,” he told me. “Ninety-six percent of terrestrial birds rear their young on insects.”

Carolina chickadees can feed their offspring up to 590 caterpillars a day. Photo by Patricia McCairen.

And they need a lot of caterpillars. Recently, Tallamy spent 16 days observing a Carolina chickadee nest in his Delaware backyard. He discovered that the birds fed their offspring between 300 and 590 caterpillars a day. The chickadees needed 4,800 caterpillars to rear a single clutch of chicks.

“We’re used to thinking of the plants in our yards as decorations,” Tallamy says. It’s wonderful when plants are attractive, he adds, but if they’re exotics such as gingko, crape myrtle or European privet—all unpalatable to insects—they do not pass along the sun’s energy to birds and other wildlife. “You might as well install a statue,” Tallamy says.

Learn more about choosing and cultivating native plants, then turn your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat ® site. This month only, Garden For Wildlife Month, NWF will plant a native tree in your honor when you certify your property.

Common tern chick ready and waiting for food

Photo by Lisa Franceski

Check out more nature and wildlife photos, vote for your favorites and enter your own images in the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

California quail. Photo by Christine Haines.

Flock of American robins and a cedar waxwing. Photo by Christine Haines.

Be patient and take lots of photos.

“Patience and persistence are good qualities to have as a wildlife photographer.” In the 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest, Christine’s polar bear photo won an Honorable Mention, “proving that persistence pays off.”

Calliope hummingbird. Photo by Christine Haines.

Pygmy nuthatch. Photo by Christine Haines.

You don’t have to go far to find photo opportunities.

“Most of my bird images were taken in my backyard. Installing a bird bath with a water dripper will attract the greatest variety of birds.”

Pygmy nuthatches on a water dripper. Photo by Christine Haines.

Mountain chickadee. Photo by Christine Haines.

Find your inspiration, and hone your skills with reading and practice.

Christine worked for the City of Spokane, Washington for 20 years as a traffic engineering specialist, and it was bird watching that sparked her interest in photography. “I saw the beautiful images in my bird magazines and wanted to take them, too.” She developed her skills through reading and joining a photography club.

House finch. Photo by Christine Haines.

Calliope hummingbird in tree. Photo by Christine Haines.

See more of Christine’s photos on Flickr >>

Want More Nature Photography Ideas?

Visit our Nature Photography Tips Center or check out the entries in this year’s National Wildlife Photo Contest! Vote for your favorite photos and consider entering your own for a chance to win the Grand Prize — a trip for two to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada where you can see and photograph polar bears.