There’s a quiet revolution taking root across Iowa—not in government halls or boardrooms, but in backyards, schoolyards, and neighborhood corners where milkweed, coneflower, and aster push through the soil each spring. From city balcony planters to prairie edges near farm fields, Iowans are rediscovering how deeply their sense of place is tied to the song of a wren or the shimmer of a monarch wing.

 

This spirit of stewardship has caught national attention. The National Wildlife Federation, in partnership with the Iowa Wildlife Federation, is recognizing Iowans who turn their yards and gardens into sanctuaries that sustain birds, pollinators, frogs, and the countless unseen lives that make our ecosystems hum. Through the Garden for Wildlife program—America’s oldest and largest native habitat movement—ordinary spaces are being transformed into Certified Wildlife Habitats, living testaments to care and connection in a changing landscape.

 

Certified Wildlife Habitats provide natural sources of food, water, cover, and places to raise young. They are maintained in a sustainable way by incorporating native plants, conserving water, and avoiding pesticides.

 

Started in 1973, the Garden for Wildlife movement now recognizes more than 300,000 Certified Wildlife Habitat gardens across North America. Backyards, urban gardens, school grounds, businesses, places of worship, campuses, parks, farms, zoos, and community landscapes can all be recognized as wildlife habitats through the program. 

 

“Anyone, anywhere can restore wildlife habitat right in their own yards and communities,” said NWF naturalist David Mizejewski. “Whether you garden in a suburban yard, an urban area, or a rural plot of land, you can make a difference for local wildlife. Creating a Certified Wildlife Habitat garden is fun, easy, and makes a real difference for neighborhood wildlife. It’s the perfect grassroots way to think globally and act locally and help birds, butterflies, bees, and other wildlife,” he added.

 

Participants who have their wildlife habitat garden certified receive a personalized certificate with a unique habitat number, the right to post a Certified Wildlife Habitat yard sign, and $5.00 off native plants at www.gardenforwildlife.com.

 

For more information on NWF’s Garden for Wildlife movement and how to qualify to have a yard or garden space recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat, visit www.nwf.org/garden.

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