During your time staying home and staying safe, have you begun to notice birds in your yard and wondered how you can draw in more? Or how you can make your yard or garden as friendly as possible to butterflies and other pollinators? You can join more than 6,000 households and community sites throughout the region that are committed to gardening sustainably in order to build habitat by signing up for the Backyard Habitat Certification Program.
The program is a partnership of the Columbia Land Trust and Portland Audubon and is expanding into Troutdale in 2020. It provides discounts, resources, and guidance to those who want to increase habitat where they live, landscape naturally, tackle nuisance weeds, and manage stormwater onsite. The program is available for anyone caring for lots less than one acre, and to schools, community groups, apartment buildings, public institutions, and businesses with no size restriction.
For a small, one-time enrollment fee, a Habitat Technician will visit the participant’s site to identify nuisance weeds and suggest beneficial native plants and other features that will attract and support birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. This site assessment is followed up with a personalized site report outlining steps to reach certification. Recommendations are tailored to each participant’s site and interests.
Participants receive perks such as discounted prices on native plants, coupons to local nurseries, follow-up technical assistance, invitations to open garden tours, and certification signs to display in their yard.
The way you landscape and the plants you choose make a real difference to the health and vitality of our city and our region. Together we plant roots, create a habitat, and transform the world one yard at a time.
To enroll or learn more about the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, please visit their website at backyardhabitats.org. You will be added to their waitlist and contacted for a site visit once the program officially launches in Troutdale, the timing of which will be informed by public health guidelines around COVID-19.