RRR: How wildlife-friendly is your yard?

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By MARGIE O’LOUGHLIN

Hiawatha resident Daniel Schultz is a hard working real estate broker by day, helping people buy and sell their homes through the company he founded: Flourish Realty. After hours, he is a dedicated gardener and Master Naturalist with a passion for enhancing urban wildlife in Minneapolis – starting in his own back yard.

Schultz and his family began gardening seriously years ago, and got their yard certified as a wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in 2010. He said, “I knew I wanted to be part of a community project after that happened. It made sense to be part of an urban wildlife corridor, and not just a stand-alone property.”

Now the coordinator of the Longfellow Community Wildlife Habitat Project, Schultz is encouraging others to do the same. He said, “So far, we have 56 home gardens certified through the NWF, and we need 150 to be designated a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat. We have three schools certified (four are required), and three businesses (four are required.) We’re making progress.”

Why are Schultz and others working so hard to make this happen? Because whether pollinator gardens are large or small, they provide habitat for threatened wildlife – and the greater Longfellow neighborhood is in a central migration corridor for monarchs and birds.

There are only four elements required for a garden to be certified by the NWF. The garden must provide food in the form of seeds and nectar. Clean water must be available. There must be plants to provide cover, and a place to raise young.

Schultz said, “We’re trying to demonstrate how easy it is to adopt more wildlife friendly practices. Head over to Mother Earth Gardens and buy a few native plants to get started. Consider choosing plants that have a diversity of bloom times, and see what kinds of birds, insects, and animals your yard can attract. Put up a bird bath or a nesting box. It doesn’t take much to make a positive difference.”

With more than half the world’s land mass now used for farming or grazing, the potential for pollinator diversity in urban areas is steadily growing.

Schultz said, “One example is the Minnesota state bee, called the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. According to U of M entomologists, it used to be widespread across the state – but now is making its last stand in the backyards of Minneapolis and St. Paul where native and other friendly pollinator plants offer what it needs to survive.”

To learn more about the Longfellow Community Wildlife Habitat Project, visit www.longfellowwildlife.blogspot.com. The cost for certification is a $20 donation to the National Wildlife Federation. Schultz and members of his team are available to help with backyard consultations or mentorships for new gardeners. Call or text Daniel Schultz at 612-408-0233 or send an email to dschultz6@comcast.net.

4 Components

of a Certified Wildlife Habitat:

1) Food – a habitat needs three of the following types of plants or supplemental feeders: seeds from a plant, berries, nectar, foliage/twigs, nuts, fruits, or sap.

2) Water – provide clean water for wildlife to drink and bathe from a birdbath, lake, stream, seasonal pool, water garden/pond, river, butterfly puddling area, rain garden, or spring.

3) Cover – provide at least two places to find shelter from the weather and predators: wooded area, bramble patch, ground cover, rock pile or wall, rosting box, dense shrubs or thicket, evergreens, brush or log pile, burrow, meadow or prairie, water garden or pond.

4) A Place to Raise Young – provide at least two places for wildlife to engage in courtship behavior, mate, and then bear and raise their young: mature trees, meadow or prairie, nesting box, wetland, host plants for caterpillars, dead trees or snags, dense shrubs or a thicket, water garden or pond, or burrow.

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