Denver Wants to Become a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat, Which Basically Means a Lot of Gardens
Denver hopes to be certified by the end of 2019, joining 116 other cities and towns across the country, including big ones like Houston and Baltimore. Denver would be the largest Community Wildlife Habitat in the West.
To get there, Denver will need to rack up 750 points. The minimum point total is determined by population.
Here’s What You Can Do:
To get your backyard (or balcony) habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation, you’ll need to meet requirements in five categories. There are various ways to do it:
- Food. This can include things like berries, nectar and bird feeders. Your habitat needs three of the 13 options.
- Water. This can include things like bird baths, rain gardens and streams. Your habitat needs one of the 10 options.
- Cover. This means areas where wildlife can take shelter from weather and predators. It includes things like wooded areas, rock piles or walls and roosting boxes. Your habitat needs two of the 12 options.
- Places to raise young. This can include mature trees, burrows and host plants for caterpillars. Your habitat needs two of the 10 options.
- Sustainable practices. Sub-categories include soil and water conservation, controlling exotic species and organic practices. Your need to employ practices from two of those three categories in your habitat.
You can review the whole checklist here.
It costs $20 to certify your home habitat. To start the process, you need to register here.
Find out more about this effort and how you can help on Denverite.
Hopefully you have found this information helpful. If you would like to receive the complete 100-page report, or if you have questions, please contact us.
