What is A Certified Wildlife Habitat?

If you've ever hung out out a bird feeder or put up a birdhouse, then you're already well on your way to understanding the essentials of a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Getting your backyard certified through National Wildlife Federation shows an understanding of what it takes to sustain and maintain a healthy wildlife community, as well as doing your part to provide homes for various critters that may find themselves displaced with the urbanization of many areas in the U.S. of A.

Your habitat doesn't have to big and fancy either. It's perfectly possible to certify your apartment balcony as a habitat for local butterflies or songbirds, provided you meet the necessary criteria.

To qualify you must provide the five essentials.

• Food
• Water
• Cover
• A place to raise young
• A Healthy Environment (which means no harmful chemicals or pesticides)

Once you have all five in place you can apply for the certification process, which costs about $20 and all proceeds go to support the NWF's non-profit work. Once certified you become eligible to hang one of these nifty signs in your yard. 

This program has existed for several decades now, but with more people becoming interested in the environment and green practices, the number of certified properties has seen an uptick. There are even whole communities that have become certified. 

Even the Facebook campus has become a Certified Wildlife Habitat after becoming home to several gray foxes back in 2013. 

I love that story since it proves, to me at least, that humans and wildlife can live side by side in harmony. We just have to take the time to provide a safe place for them. 

I've done my best to gather all the information you need in order to become certified here on this site and I'll be adding more info all the time. 

I plan on having guides to attracting different types of wildlife as well as lists of local plants by region and state to help you choose exactly what should go into your new wildlife habitat. 

With summer on the way, now's the perfect time to jump into a project like this. If you've got kids that will be home for the summer this could be a great opportunity to study local wildlife and talk about what makes up a balanced ecosystem.