good morning this is angela with parkrose permaculture it's another drizzly day in
portland oregon although i cannot complain so much of the west coast is facing some serious drought
issues not just the west coast but the whole west of the united states and central america and
i'm really grateful for any rain that we have here and i want to make an upcoming video about
permaculture and drought and strategies for water usage so that's definitely upcoming something that
you might not think i need here in a rainy climate but we are actually struggling with
drought here as well insufficient snowpack and insufficient rainfall so we all need to plan for
water conservation for this year and beyond so i'll definitely be doing a video on that
but for today i actually am going to be opening a package that came in the mail
i'm super i'm super super excited about it so this i know what it is this is a certification plaque
for the national wildlife federation certifying my yard as a wildlife habitat so i want to talk
you through the five things you need to get certified as a national wildlife federation
habitat and some of the benefits but also why is it important for us to go through these kinds of
programs in the first place my yard is also a certified backyard wildlife habitat i am a silver
level i went through that process and found it really valuable and i'll put a link in the
description to backyard habitat certification and to the national wildlife habitat certification
programs so as humans in a society that is constantly shrinking habitat for wildlife
we can turn our own yards into places that provide habitat and it's good to let people know
that we don't need to feel bleak and we don't need to feel hopeless about
shrinking wild spaces it's definitely something we need to face but also we can create pockets
of habitat that support local wildlife right out our back doors or our front doors
so let's open this and then i'm gonna talk about the five ways that you can meet the criteria
i love that the mailer is totally compostable
there's only one piece of tape on the whole thing so that's nice i'll be able
to remove that don't actually know what this looks like so we're gonna find out oh cute
so it's a metal metal plaque this is gonna go on my grape arbor with my pesticide free zone plaque
and my backyard habitat certification plaque this says certified wildlife habitat this property
is recognized for its commitment to sustainably provide the essential elements of wildlife habitat
so let's talk about the five things that you need to do to qualify to certify yourself for
this program and then we'll talk about why i think it's important to do programs like this
so there are five things that we need to provide in order to qualify for this program number one
food you need a source of food for wildlife and that can be putting out feeders it can be growing
food that wildlife likes particularly native plants it can be creating habitat that encourages
prey species to move in so you are providing food for predators all of those are great things you
need to provide a source of water for wildlife that could be a stream or a pond on your property
if you live somewhere small like me that can come in the form of a rain garden bird baths
bee waterers just need to have consistent fresh water so that wildlife has a place to safely drink
number three you need to provide cover
i will say um for me this is a really important one i live in an area if you
live in a suburban or urban area as well cats are the biggest cause of songbird decline
in north and south america it's right up there with habitat destruction millions of songbirds
are killed every year by domestic cats and we have got to provide shelter cover safe places for birds
to hide from this invasive predator as adorable as cats are and yes they may be mousers they also are
a real real problem for our declining songbird populations and for amphibians and reptiles
too so providing cover in the form of growing shrubs building structures providing brush piles
that help create microclimates and conserve moisture can help create space for amphibians
piles of logs and sticks are places that beneficial snakes like garter snakes
love to nest and overwinter and garter snakes are great slug predators so i will do anything and
everything to encourage them in my yard cover really important number four you need to have
places to raise young that can come in the form of putting up birdhouses and bat boxes and owl roosts
in your yard it can come in the form of doing um solitary beneficial insect houses right make sure
that if you are doing something like a mason bee house you are following hygiene protocols
you can't just tuck up a box full of bamboo straws and actually really support our native pollinators
you will end up setting up disease cycles so there is definitely a hygiene protocol if you're going
to provide that kind of a place to raise young you also can just leave all of your stocks of things
up at the end of the season and piles of leaves and places like that for insects to reproduce
i definitely here create artificial shelter and places to raise young not only in the form of
structures but also in the form of how i prune my trees and the way i stake some of my plants that
creates inviting space for birds to nest and feel safe the last thing that you need to do in order
to qualify as a certified wildlife habitat is that you need to commit to using sustainable practices
there's a checklist on their website for ways that you can promote sustainability
for me that means using no pesticides herbicides fungicides of any kind on my
property it means that i don't use inorganic salt fertilizers that damage the soil ecology
it means that i am not using extractive methods of caring for my yard i'm using methods that
don't promote damage to the environment and human bodies i'm using methods that don't over use water
and other resources and i'm using methods that promote permaculture principles now you don't have
to be a permaculturist to qualify for this program but if you follow permaculture principles you
automatically will qualify for the sustainability check for this program so why is it important to
participate in programs like these i hinted at it at the beginning but i really really firmly
believe that it is my job to be an ambassador for permaculture and ambassador for wildlife
and ambassador for a different way of living and being even an urban or suburban setting
and that we don't have to buckle and fold to the societal pressure to have a monoculture
food desert lawn that requires chemical and water inputs that are not sustainable we don't have to
have to fit somebody else's notion of what a yard should look like that is totally out of
keeping and with the way mother nature would do it we can follow principles
and ways of gardening that are not harming to the environment and promote
space for wildlife and that are beautiful so i do emphasize beauty a lot on this channel
even though a lot of permaculturists are really focused on function if we want to help people
feel that permaculture is approachable for them that sustainable gardening and habitat creation
is approachable for them we have to make sure that they're not going to feel they're taking
a risk in their neighborhood they have to know that it can be beautiful and appealing and have
aesthetic value because let's be real humans love beauty and we have a lot of really weird cultural
expectations about what yards should look like and if we can gently nudge people toward
another way of thinking by having them stop in our front yard and like whoa look at the
abundance here look at all these flowers look at all the fruit ripening look at how this design is
stacked in beautifully with plants um blooming in succession and arranged in a way that is visually
pleasing they'll say maybe i maybe i could do this too and not kind of tick off everybody in
my neighborhood maybe my lawn isn't the only way to have a pretty looking yard so for me
letting people know that hey my yard is a backyard habitat my yard is a certified wildlife habitat
but it's also really pretty and it's got lots of flowers and it's got lots of carefully landscaped
beds around the front yard and the backyard and that there is a balance to be had between
beauty and wildness and that as gardeners we have an ability to strike that balance
and bring beauty without in any way inhibiting the abundance that is possible in our garden
so for me when folks see these signs hanging in my front yard i hope it makes them stop and say
what is that program what do what do i need to do what changes do i need to make to qualify
for something like that i want to support native bird populations i want to support
local wildlife how can i do that and wow look this woman does it and yet her garden is
full of roses and peonies and she's growing grapes in her front yard and look at all of the ways in
which this garden is beautiful and full of food and whoa also supports wildlife so for me i feel
like it's really worth the 20 bucks in getting certified in the additional 20 bucks for the sign
i feel like that's a good investment i'm supporting a an organization that promotes
creating and conserving wild spaces and at the same time i'm helping be an ambassador
for wildlife in a neighborhood setting so if you are interested in becoming a certified
backyard wildlife habitat or a national wildlife federation wildlife habitat
i'll drop a bunch of links in the description in ways that you can certify your garden you can make
changes to your garden so that you better support wildlife and then you can get a stamp of approval
that you can share with your neighborhood letting them know hey i did this thing and you can do it
too and we can have beautiful gardens and yet also support wildlife at the same time
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