Getting Certified!  Turning My Backyard Into a Certified Backyard Habitat on Monday, November 01, 2010

One of our customers phoned to discuss her interest in having her yard certified as a “wildlife habitat” by Audubon Society of Portland. She wondered if I had any suggestions. I knew the basic requirements were food, water, shelter and native plants. Since my husband and I have been transforming our yard over the past 10 years, I decided it was time to investigate having it certified myself!

by Juliann Hart

I called Audubon and learned that this Backyard Habitat Certification program was started in January 2009 as a joint effort by Audubon Society of Portland and Three Rivers Land Conservancy.  Currently the program is available to Portland city residents only.  I was directed to a website where I completed their online Introduction Application.  Soon, I received an email asking when I would like to set up a site visit.

A site consultant came to our house about 4 weeks later with a file folder full of information and resources.  She explained the requirements to achieve silver, gold or platinum certification, and then we headed out to the yard.  Our yard passed with flying colors to silver, and with one change we’ll have our gold certification coming in the mail!  With a few additional projects this spring, we look forward to Platinum certification.  While we were required to pay $25 for the site consultant’s visit, the program provides discounts and incentives for purchasing native plants and other materials.

It was a very educational and enjoyable experience.  A special thanks to Portland Audubon and Three Rivers Conservancy for having such a wonderful program available.  I highly recommend it, and I’m sure my birds and bees do too!  Visit http://audubonportland.org/backyardwildlife/backyardhabitat or phone 503-292-6855 x122 to get started.