The Native Habitat Program is geared toward reconnecting habitats one yard, one garden, at a time. Anyone with a yard, big or small, can turn their yard into a natural setting that attracts birds and butterflies and supports sustainable ecosystems.
The program involves a certification checklist that covers five categories: water, sustainable practices, breeding places, food, and cover. Each category has a list of best practices. Participants will check a certain number of best practices in each category to earn the certification.
Coastal Alabama is being developed at an alarming rate, with developments encroaching on wildlife habitat, wetlands, and open spaces. Ecosystems are being quickly damaged by what’s known as fragmentation. For every homeowner or business that creates a native habitat in their yard by following the certification process, we are closing the gaps between productive habitats that sustain the entire ecosystem.
Restoring native habitats and closing the gaps between productive habitats is really about saving the biological world from another mass extinction. Throughout Earth’s geological history, there have been at least five mass extinctions – a biological crisis in which a dramatic decrease in biodiversity – the variety of living species – occurs.
Biodiversity is the string that holds the biological world together. If a key species is lost from an ecosystem, the entire system can decline. You may look at an agricultural field and see only corn, but what you aren’t seeing are the hundreds of distinct species of soil microbes, amounting to one ton per acre, hard at work breaking down matter that create available nutrients for the corn’s roots to absorb.
A mere teaspoon of soil can harbor 10 billion microbes alone, emphasizing the unseen importance of biodiversity.
Loss of biodiversity is a crisis for the living world, including humans. It places all remaining species under threat, including the microbes and fungi that supply nutrients to our crops. The late, great E.O. Wilson recognized this dilemma, inspiring his call for the conservation of 50 percent of the planet.
Native Habitat Certification program is, primarily, an education program. It will include workshops on native vs. non-native plants, pollinators, soil types, and more, SALT-hosted tours of certified properties, and literature that will be available at plant nurseries and distributed to organizations such as garden clubs, homeowners’ associations, school environmental and horticulture clubs, and scouts.
The program will also include education and resources on nesting houses for birds. SALT will provide bird boxes for purchase and will also hold workshops on building bird boxes during which participants will build and take home a birdhouse. These workshops will include education on the right kinds of bird boxes for both migrating and local birds, proper installation, and information about the birds.
SALT’s social media channels will include information on best practices, native plants, local resources, and photos of certified yards and yards in progress.
Additionally, SALT is incorporating the principles of native habitats into the restoration of a 60-acre, SALT-owned property. Future plans include hosting field trips for after school and summer programs to the property.
Score your landscape using the checklist. Start by identifying the native plants that are currently in your yard. Do they provide Food, Cover, or Breeding Places? Only Native Plants can contribute to the checklist. Do you have a source of Water in your landscape? Are you currently using any Sustainable Practices on the checklist?
Once you have completed the checklist for your yard or landscape, make a list of what checks are missing. This will tell you how to begin transforming your yard into a habitat. For help identifying plants, you can use apps like PictureThis or iNaturalist, call your local Master Gardener helpline, or contact SALT at (251) 990-5004.
Now that you know a little more about what is in your yard, you may have noticed that many common landscape plants are not native to our area, or worse, invasive. Work towards a goal of at least 70% native plants in your habitat and the elimination of invasive species that displace native plants and provide no benefit to wildlife. For most people, that will be a big transition, but the most important thing is to get started. As you add native plants, the birds, butterflies, and other life that will be drawn to your yard will provide plenty of encouragement to keep going. You can find a list of great native plants under the Program Resources section of this page.
Native Plants are adapted to our climate and can thrive without additional irrigation or fertilizers once they are established. while lower maintenance than a traditional yard, your habitat will need some maintenance to look its best. Adopting sustainable landscape maintenance practices can significantly reduce maintenance costs, conserve resources, and protect our waterways from polluted runoff.
Learn more about sustainable practices to help your habitat thrive with these resources.
- Alabama Smart Yards
- Greener by the Yard
- Homegrown National Park
- National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder
Understanding the Checklist
Cover provides safe spaces for critters to hide. Cover comes in many different forms, and those different forms support different critters. Below is an example of each kind of Cover listed on the checklist. These examples are certainly not comprehensive, but may give you a good starting point.
- Wooded Area: A grove of bald cypress trees.
- Ground Cover: A dense patch of Southern shield fern.
- Rock or Brush Pile: A decorative stack of river rocks.
- Dense Trees or Shrubs: A patch of native azaleas.
- Roosting Box: A bluebird box installed on a tree.
- Fountain or Pond: A decorative garden fountain (hint: this one also lets you check off something in the Water category).
Water is essential for all life on Earth.
Everyone’s got to eat! Below is an example of each kind of Food category listed on the checklist. These examples are certainly not comprehensive, but may give you a good starting point. For a list of more plants, scroll down this page to the Program Resources section!
- Nuts/Seeds: Pecan tree
- Berries/Fruits: American Beauty Berry
- Nectar/Pollen: Sweet Goldenrod
- Foliage/Twigs: Eastern Red Cedar
- Bird or Butterfly Feeder: Get one with a built-in camera to see who’s visiting you!
- Host Plants: Native Milkweed
This one is all about the birds and the bees. Below is an example of each kind of Breeding Places category listed on the checklist. These examples are certainly not comprehensive, but may give you a good starting point.
- Wooded Area: A grove of bald cypress trees.
- Mature Trees: Magnificent live oaks growing in your Habitat.
- Dense Trees or Shrubs: A patch of native azaleas.
- Nesting Box: A bluebird box installed on a tree.
- Fountain or Pond: A decorative garden fountain (hint: this one also lets you check off something in the Water category).