We share land with other humans and also with other-than-humans! There’s lots we can do—or avoid doing—on the land to create diverse and robust habitats for our other-than-human neighbors.
On Wednesday, May 19, at 7PM, join the Chocorua Lake Conservancy and the Cook Memorial Library live via Zoom for “Providing Backyard Habitat for Your Wild Neighbors” with naturalist and CLC Stewardship Director Lynne Flaccus, a Zoom presentation and conversation about wildlife habitats you can create or maintain in your neighborhood. It doesn’t matter how small your backyard might be—or how large. You can play a role in providing habitat for a variety of wildlife species, from the smallest insects, to birds, toads, and bobcats. Placing a hanging plant on your deck may seem like a small action, but it provides a piece of habitat for some creature.
The four components of wildlife habitat include food, water, space, and cover or shelter. You may not have the space to provide all these pieces for every species but you can create or maintain spaces that contribute to the needs of wildlife. The gardens you may have provide food and homes for a variety of insects; those insects are food for each other, small mammals, birds, and reptiles and amphibians. Those all may be food for the larger animals who live in your neighborhood even if you may not see them often!
Actively planning your landscape by choosing native flowering and fruiting plants, or just leaving part of your lawn to grow up as “weeds” helps to diversify the landscape and may provide connectivity to resources that many animals need in your neighborhood. We’ll explore what animals need, and different strategies for providing habitat whether by leaving things alone, or actively creating or maintaining habitat—plantings, nest boxes or roosting boxes, brush piles and more!
Join us with questions to ask or your own strategies to share. We’ll also provide a list of resources you can reference for further learning.
This event is free. NEW: please register in advance at bit.ly/CLC-habitat.
Banner image: A semi-wild garden providing habitat for many pollinating insects and birds. Photo: Juno Lamb