Certified Wildlife Habitat

Upcoming Austin Event: Tour the New Demonstration Wildlife Habitat

Join the National Wildlife Federation in celebrating the new Rocks to Roots demonstration wildlife habitat and outdoor classroom in Austin! Making Space for Wildlife in Schoolyards Gardening for wildlife begins … Read more

Today Show: Surprising “Backyard Wildlife”

It’s Garden for Wildlife Month! In honor of this annual celebration of National Wildlife Federation’s 40-year-old Certified Wildlife Habitat program, I brought some “backyard wildlife” on my Today Show segment … Read more

Buntings at bird feeder by Bernard Friel

Summer Bird Feeding: the Case For and Against

Should you take your bird feeders down for the summer? The answer may depend on where you live. Ever since I started feeding backyard birds several years ago, I’ve religiously … Read more

Matthews, North Carolina Celebrates Community Wildlife Habitat Certification

Matthews, North Carolina recently celebrated becoming the nation’s 64th NWF Community Wildlife Habitat with “A Day of Play” at Squirrel Lake Park. Despite the cold, drizzly weather, spirits were high … Read more

Ajo, Arizona Celebrates Community Wildlife Habitat Certification

The former copper mining town of Ajo, Arizona took a big step towards helping local wildlife when they registered their Community Wildlife Habitat® project with the National Wildlife Federation four years ago. After … Read more

Swamp milkweed and monarch butterfly by Victor Quintanilla

Monarch Butterflies in a Changing World

On a recent trip to California, I stopped by Natural Bridges State Beach, a lovely seaside protected area in Santa Cruz that’s best known for the monarch butterflies that overwinter there. … Read more

Nature: Driving Revitalization in the Motor City and Beyond

  During the roaring 20’s, Detroit glittered as a global center of automobile manufacturing. With a population that soared from 285,000 in 1900 to 1.6 million by 1930, it was … Read more

Certified Wildlife Habitat, Washington, DC

Wildlife Gardening: Don’t Forget the Neighbors

When I bought a house on a large corner lot a decade ago, I was in a hurry to convert the lawn as quickly as possible to a lush, plant-filled … Read more

Cedar waxwing feeding on white mulberry

Nonnative Plants: Ecological Traps?

When I moved into my first house several years ago, it was also the first time I’d ever had my own yard—and with a double lot located on a corner, … Read more

Deepwater Horizon: 1,000 Days Later

It has been 1,000 days since the BP-operated oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, gushing millions of barrels of crude oil into a body of water that supports … Read more