California: Get your backyard certified as wildlife habitat

Her one-acre backyard is a haven for animals that most people would
not consider appealing guests, including bobcats, gopher snakes,
cottontail rabbits, bats, honeybees and the occasional coyote. She
attracted the animals by putting in plants that are inviting to them
as food or habitat.

Her property has been certified as wildlife
habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, one of the country’s
biggest environmental groups. While most certified habitats are in
outer suburbia or in the country, the Gottliebs are just a five-minute
drive from downtown Beverly Hills. When she and her husband bought the
house 22 years ago, Ms. Gottlieb was determined to transform the
backyard into a home for native birds. “I love watching birds,” she
said. “That’s how it all started. I wanted to attract native birds to
the yard and conserve water.” Ms. Gottlieb, who is 61 and a retired
nurse, had never been a gardener, but she had been interested in birds
since her childhood in rural Ontario, where her mother gardened in
summer and put food out for birds in winter. While her husband went
off to work every day — he is a partner in a real estate company — she
took charge of the garden, reading as much as she could about native
plants. In redoing the land, her first priority was to use less water.
“The yard was not a mess,” she said. “It just had a lot of ivy in it
and was landscaped with tropical plants. So, if you like that kind of
thing and don’t mind a lot of water usage, it works.” She, however,
does not like that kind of thing. “I have a friend I call the
Ornamental Queen,” Ms. Gottlieb said. “She has tons of exotic
ornamental plants in her garden, and she waters them every morning at
6 a.m. It just doesn’t appeal to me.” Initially, building a wildlife
habitat wasn’t part of her plan. But she soon realized that native
plants, while using very little water, would also attract wildlife far
beyond the birds that prompted her initial interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/garden/25wildlife.html?_r=1

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