Community Wildlife Habitat Certification

Students at Esperanza Elementary School in the City of Los Angeles admire the beautiful lavender and other plants in their Certified Community Wildlife Habitat.

What to know

  • All wildlife need four things to survive: food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young.
  • Individual residents, businesses, and schools can easily certify their own gardens, regardless of size, through the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) for a nominal cost.
  • The City of Los Angeles is the largest City to be certified by NWF.

Creating a Wildlife Garden

All wildlife need four things to survive: food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young.

  1. Food: In nature, plants provide important food sources, including berries, nectar, pollen, leaves, roots, seeds, nuts, acorns, and pinecones. Native plants also create an environment/provide sustenance for insects, invertebrates, and fungi. Certified habitats must include food sources for wildlife.
  2. Water: Your habitat also needs to include fresh water for wildlife to drink and bathe. This can be as simple as a shallow dish or bird bath, with a few rocks in it to prevent insects from drowning. Or you can create a pond with native aquatic vegetation for a larger project. If you are concerned about mosquitoes, simply change the water every 5-7 days or install a drip or a filter that agitates the water, which prevents mosquitoes from laying eggs. Moving water is also more attractive to birds.
  3. Shelter: Wildlife need a place to hide from predators, or if they are predators, a place to find prey. Plants provide this kind of cover, and they also offer protection against the elements, during times of extreme heat or rain. Be sure to plant densely, to establish good cover. Brush piles, dead logs, and leaf litter provide excellent cover as well.
  4. Places to Raise Young: Many organisms rely on specific native plants to raise their young. For example, monarch butterflies can only eat milkweed as caterpillars, while the endemic El Segundo blue butterfly relies on coast buckwheat pollen. Many birds also show a preference when nesting, some like to lay their eggs in the tall branches of sycamore trees, while other species nest in thick shrubs like manzanita.

Certification Guidelines

In order to become certified, green spaces need to provide four basic elements that all wildlife need: food, water, cover, and a place to raise young. In addition, gardens must also use sustainable practices, like conserving water and removing invasive plants.

Each certified property earns points for the City of Los Angeles in the Community Wildlife Habitat Program. In addition, NWF habitat certifications across the City are regularly quantified by a metric in the LA City Biodiversity Index.

There are three types of certifications:

Home/Apartment Certification

  • Beautify your yard with native flowers, shrubs, and trees that provide habitat for native wildlife.
     

Schools (NWF Schoolyard Habitat)

  • Inspire the next generation of scientists and artists with a schoolyard habitat.
    Contact your school’s principal to see how you can certify your (child’s) school.
    Information for educators/principals on creating schoolyard habitats


Common Areas

  • Other spaces, including businesses, community gardens, colleges/universities, libraries, roadsides, and places of worship, can also be certified.

 

Sustainable Wildlife Garden Practices

Once you’ve established your wildlife garden, follow sustainable practices like eliminating the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers and removing invasive plants.

Native Plants
California has an array of native plant species like elderberry, manzanitas, oaks, sages, currants, fuschia, aster, grasses, succulents, cacti, and many more! Many tools/resources are available to help you select native plants that are appropriate for your local environment:

Native Animals
What kind of wildlife will you see? Take a peek at Audubon’s list of bird species native to Los Angeles. Be sure to log your observations at iNaturalist!
 

Connectivity
Many wildlife need to travel to find food, shelter, and mates. Pockets of habitat and green space in urban areas can serve as corridors or stepping stones that help connect larger, natural areas. The largest wildlife crossing in the world, The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing perched above the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills will soon offer a safe way for mountain lions and other wildlife to cross all ten freeway lanes, helping to prevent their local extinction.