Is Your Yard "Certified Wildlife Habitat?"

Kathy Sipple's garden, seen here in the fall, provides beauty along with habitat for wildlife. The Valparaiso resident is working with Earth Charter Indiana to encourage people statewide to turn areas of their property into Certified Wildlife Habitat. (Provided by Kathy Sipple)

For decades, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has promoted Gardening for Life and has encouraged homeowners, businesses, schools and religious congregations to create Certified Wildlife Habitats on their properties.

Earth Charter Indiana, in collaboration with NWF and the Indiana Wildlife Federation (IWF), launched an initiative in March to take that effort to the next level. The Hoosier Habitats Challenge seeks to inspire Indiana residents to restore native ecosystems and to address climate change and declining biodiversity by creating plots of wildlife habitat in their residential yards or on their land.

Organizers would like to attract enough participation to have regions of the state and, eventually, the entire state earn Certified Wildlife Habitat recognition, said Kimberly Koczan of Fort Wayne, Earth Charter Indiana’s resiliency coordinator focused on Allen County. She also works with Kathryn Lisinicchia, resiliency coordinator for Huntington County, to serve northeast Indiana.

“It invites us to get to know our neighbors, to get to know the species that could be our neighbors and to live in rhythm with our natural habitat,” Koczan noted.

Kathryn Lisinicchia, left, and Kimberly Koczan, Earth Charter Indiana resiliency coordinators for Huntington and Allen counties, respectively, shared information about the Hoosier Habitats Challenge and other initiatives during the recent Earth Day Fort Wayne event at Purdue Fort Wayne. (Provided by Kimberly Koczan)

BACKGROUND

The NWF began a Backyard Wildlife Habitat program in 1973 to encourage homeowners and others to use habitat restoration best practices developed by the U.S. Forest Service. The NWF later changed the initiative’s name to the Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

Earth Charter Indiana, which was founded in 2001, is based on the Earth Charter declaration signed in 2000 at The Hague, The Netherlands, it said on its website, https://www.earthcharterindiana.org. In line with that declaration, Earth Charter Indiana works “to inspire and advance sustainable, just and peaceful living in Indiana by promoting the values and principles of the Earth Charter,” its website said.

The Hoosier Habitats Challenge grew out of work by Kathy Sipple of Valparaiso, Earth Charter Indiana’s resiliency coordinator for northwest Indiana. Sipple earned Certified Wildlife Habitat recognition for her own residence. She then quickly scaled up that effort to generate enough public participation to earn NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat status in 2023 for Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke counties in northwest Indiana — the first multi-county region nationally to earn that recognition.

Through Earth Charter Indiana, Sipple, Koczan, Lisinicchia and others now are working to make Indiana the first U.S. state to achieve a statewide NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat designation.

“The work of supporting resilient natural ecologies is taking place in communities all across Indiana,” Lisinicchia said. “We hope Hoosier Habitats Challenge will be a way to bring attention and recognition to those efforts.”

Multiple cities and counties, as well as several nature-based organizations, already have indicated interest in the project, Lisinicchia added.

GETTING INVOLVED

Earning Certified Wildlife Habitat recognition for your yard or property can be done fairly easily, Koczan said.

The NWF encourages people to use at least 70% native plants in their habitat area, it said on the organization’s website, www.nwf.org. You can find numerous helpful tips and tools to plan and certify your habitat at https://www.nwf.org/Native-Plant-Habitats/Create-and-Certify.

Habitat areas can be of any size, ranging from an apartment balcony or backyard landscape bed to a piece of land of several acres or more. To earn certification, a property owner’s habitat must meet criteria in five areas:

1.     Food: Provide at least three sources of wildlife food, such as nectar and pollen, fruits and berries, nuts, or bird feeder.

2.     Water: Provide at least one water source, including a bird bath, rain garden, seasonal or year-round pond, or stream or lake.

3.     Cover: Provide at least two sources of cover, such as dense shrubs or brambles, a fallen leaf layer on the ground, evergreen plants, a prairie area, brush pile or rock wall.

4.     Places to raise young: Provide at least two areas, such as mature trees, fallen or decomposing logs, host plants, ground-cover plants, or nesting box.

5.     Sustainable practices: Commit to at least three steps to manage your habitat sustainably, such as soil conservation, water conservation, reducing or eliminating use of chemical and light pollution, and controlling invasive species.

People can work toward a wildlife habitat certification in steps over time, Koczan noted. Earth Charter Indiana also wants to connect people to seed swaps, native plant giveaways, and other helpful resources, she said.

Kathy Sipple of Valparaiso, Earth Charter Indiana resiliency coordinator for northwest Indiana, stands in front of her home garden. After getting her garden recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat, Sipple developed enough additional interest to have a four-county area in her region designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. (Provided by Kathy Sipple)

BENEFITS

As in northwest Indiana, Koczan hopes local participation can create corridors of wildlife habitat. Even if one house per city block builds a Certified Wildlife Habitat, the patches of nature form a habitat corridor. She hopes excitement and curiosity about the program then spreads to other neighbors.

The small oases of nature can help replace the natural habitats lost to residential or commercial development and other land uses. Rain gardens or small swales added to your landscape can catch rainfall and allow it to percolate into the soil to recharge groundwater supplies.

Being out in nature, even if it’s a small backyard habitat, also enhances personal well-being.

“I feel more rooted in my humanity when I get to see and interact with other species,” Koczan said.

“For me,” she noted, “doing this Hoosier Habitats Challenge is investing in hope.”

RESOURCES

To learn more about the Hoosier Habitats Challenge and the Certified Wildlife Habitat program, go to https://www.earthcharterindiana.org/nwf.