In celebration of Montclair’s recent recognition as New Jersey’s first National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Community Wildlife Habitat, the Montclair Backyard Habitat Project is holding a free Backyard Habitat tour from 10:00am to 2:00pm on Saturday, July 17. Come and see how your neighbors are creating beautiful, healthy, chemical-free yards that support birds and butterflies.
All participating homes have NWF certified Backyard Habitats. This means they provide the basics for desired wildlife – food, water, cover, and places to raise young – while helping the environment by using native plants, composting, eliminating pesticide use, and conserving water. Van Vleck Gardens will also take part to show off their butterfly garden and Anderson Park will have a guide on hand from 10:00-12:00 to show the park’s many wildlife-friendly features. Both sites are certified Wildlife Habitats.
Montclair’s certification as a Community Wildlife Habitat culminated six years of work by the Backyard Habitat Project, which succeeded in getting nearly 200 Montclair locations certified as habitats. Each home certified as a Backyard Habitat gave us one point towards community certification.
If you haven’t yet certified your home, school, business, house of worship, or local park, it’s not too late – the goal is to certify at least 10 more Montclair sites a year. No yard is too small. If you are interested in certifying your yard or just finding out more about environmentally friendly features such as composting, butterfly gardens, backyard water features, or native wildflowers, don’t miss this tour.
Begin your tour at any of these Montclair addresses: 129 Lincoln, 69 Grove St., 121 Christopher St., or Van Vleck Gardens (21 Van Vleck St.). Complete lists of tour sites and applications for NWF habitat certification will be available at each location.
We’ve Done it!
Montclair is a NWF Community Wildlife Habitat
In March 2010, Montclair became the first certified Community Wildlife Habitat in New Jersey and the 38th certified community in the nation.
The Montclair Backyard Habitat team has been hard at work for over 6 years to achieve this goal.Activities have included an annual Backyard Habitat Fair to educate residents about gardening for wildlife and sustainable practices, a yearly Habitat Garden Tour featuring certified yard, the creation of the Montclair Backyard Habitat website, educational presentations to various organizations, tabling at numerous events, the distribution of free native plants, and a stream clean up.
As a result of our efforts in Montclair, 155 homes, 9 schools, 7 community gardens or parks, 4 businesses, and five houses of worship have become Certified Wildlife Habitat sites.
On June 3, we will celebrate this achievement with a special ceremony at Van Vleck House and Gardens.
Upcoming events:
July 17: Annual Backyard Habitat Tour, 10:00-2:00
Several Montclair habitats will be open to visitors.Come and see what backyard habitats can be!
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The Montclair Backyard Habitat Project is working with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to promote the creation of habitat friendly to both people and wildlife in our community.
We have a new vision of what a suburban community can be.
Moving away from the traditional focus on sterile and even toxic lawns, we seek to preserve and enhance habitat through natural landscaping, using native plants and design techniques that provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and other desired wildlife.
The NWF has a program to promote exactly this kind of shift in yard care by encouraging towns to become certified as Community Wildlife Habitats.Our goal is to turn Montclair into a NWF-certified Community Wildlife Habitat by 2010.
To reach this goal, we need to create wildlife habitat in private yards and in demonstration gardens in public spaces such as schoolyards, churchyards, and parks.
JOIN US!
Let’s go wild!
OPEN BACKYARD HABITAT TOUR
July 25, 2009
All participating homes have National Wildlife Federation (NWF) certified Backyard Habitats.This means they provide the basics for desired wildlife – food, water, cover, and places to raise young – while helping the environment by using native plants, composting, eliminating pesticide use, and conserving water.Van Vleck Gardens will also take part to show off their butterfly garden and a new formal garden.
The Backyard Habitat Project is only 30 points short of the 250 points required to certify Montclair as a NWF Community Wildlife Habitat.Each Montclair home certified as a Backyard Habitat brings us one point closer. No yard is too small.If you are interested in certifying your yard or just in finding out more about environmentally friendly features such as composting, butterfly gardens, backyard ponds, or native wildflowers, don’t miss this tour.
Begin your tour at any of these Montclair addresses: 129 Lincoln, 69 Grove St., 189 Park St., or Van Vleck Gardens (21 Van Vleck St.).Complete lists of habitat tour sites and applications for NWF habitat certification will be available at each location (See official list posted on Calendar of Events Page). For descriptions of participating habitats and more information on the Montclair Backyard Habitat Project, check the Calendar of Events page.
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FOR AN APPLICATION FORM TO CERTIFY YOUR YARD AS A BACKYARD HABITAT, PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK:
From 10:00am to 2:00pm on Saturday, July 25, the Montclair Backyard Habitat Project is holding a free Backyard Habitat tour.Come and see how your neighbors are creating beautiful, healthy, chemical-free yards that support birds and butterflies.
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Certified Garden at 69 Grove Street, Montclair, NJ. This garden features more than 80 different kind of native plants & bushes from the North East Region
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A good example of a forest edge habitat created in suburban certified backyard in Montclair
Anyone interested in participating in the project in Montclair or working to establish Community Wildlife Habitat in other towns can contact me at dawasmuth@aol.com and should check the NWF’s website at www.nwf.org/bwh
