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Backyard habitats – Little changes can make big difference

By Melissa Wagoner

Horticulturist Eric Hammond didn’t need to enroll in the Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District’s (MSWCD) “Little Habitat Project” to know the front garden of his Silverton home meets the organization’s criteria for a resilient ecosystem. But when Ron Garst, a fellow member of Sustainable Silverton – a group promoting planet friendly choices – suggested certifying would help promote the project, Hammond filed the forms.

Eric Hammond in his garden displaying his Little Habitat Project sign.       Kassi Roosth
Eric Hammond in his garden displaying his Little Habitat Project sign. Kassi Roosth

“We have about 60 people in the program right now, and about a third are certified, with a lot more moving toward it,” Kassi Roosth – an Urban Conservation Planner with MSWCD and the project’s lead, said describing its growth in popularity since the launch in October 2023. “This was a program the district has been trying to start for several years. I was asked to get it off the ground.”

Modeled after the Backyard Habitat Certification Program in Portland – a collaboration between the Audubon Society of Portland and the Columbia Land Trust – The  Little Habitat Project was established to encourage landowners to care for their property in a way that creates a network of habitats for native wildlife across the county.

“It’s an education outreach program,” Roosth said. She explained that no matter the size of the garden or the experience of the gardener, “we want people to learn more about the local environment.”

The first step in The Little Habitat Project certification process is an in-person site visit to establish the goals the landowner has for the property as well as any constraints around financing, resources and maintenance. 

“I encourage people to make goals that work best for them,” Roosth said, describing the planning guide she provides clients, which includes a space to observe and inventory current plants and wildlife as well as a blank schedule for future projects.

“Then we always do a walk of the property and identify invasive species,” Roosth said. “And I share the integrative pest management approach [of removal] starting with the least toxic. Because the heart of the program is controlling invasive species.”

A deterrent to the survival of both native plant and wildlife species, invasive plants often lack predators and tend to take over an area, forming a monoculture. One example being a blackberry thicket so dense native plants are choked out and wildlife can no longer move freely.

“A lot of people are aware of what’s in their landscape,” Roosth said. “But a lot of people also think plants are native that are not.”

It’s just one reason the site visit is so important. Another is the checklist of  Little Habitat action items – divided into the categories of soil, water, infrastructure, education, invasive plant management, vegetation layering and native plant incorporation – which Roosth shares with landowners interested in becoming certified at one of three levels, ranging from easiest to most difficult.

“We don’t want to discourage people from being involved,” Roosth said of the multitiered process. “We understand a garden is a work in progress and we want to help people getting started.”

For those who achieve certification, MSWCD helps them share their achievement by gifting them a Little  Habitats yard sign that can be posted on-site.

“People appreciate that because [Little  Habitats] often don’t look traditional,” Roosth acknowledged. “But we have to change the perception of what gardens look like. Messy is beautiful!”

It’s also beneficial, not just to wildlife but to the landowner because healthy soil, properly planted with native vegetation, often requires less maintenance.

“I have irrigation areas next to the house and non-irrigation by the street,” Hammond said of his own garden, which features an abundance of native annuals. “I plant super dense, I mulch a lot and never rake, and I wander around and pull weeds every day as I see them, so I spend maybe two hours a year weeding.”

And now he’s planning to share these practices and more with the Silverton community through a demonstration garden he and the other members of Sustainable Silverton will be installing in Old Mill Park, near Silver Falls Library, in the coming year.

“We’re just trying to demonstrate to people the utility and ease with which it can be done,” Hammond said. “Hopefully we’ll have some signs to explain what’s going on.”

While one Little Habitat will only make a small impact on the survivability of native wildlife species, a web of  Little Habitats  across the region could make a significant difference.

“All of this space was [once] prairie, but those flowers don’t exist anymore,” Hammond explained. “And those species that used to live on them, they’re not gone, but they’re reduced.”

One example, the monarch butterfly, whose caterpillar relies on milkweed to survive – has seen a profound decline in numbers during the past 40 years as more native grasslands have been converted to agriculture and widespread herbicide use has increased.

“Planting isn’t going to save them,” Hammond admitted. “But it’s no skin off my back to try.”

The  Little  Habitat  Project

A Marion Soil and Water Conservation District initiative to create “a network of connected  habitats  in developed areas.”

marionswcd.net/little-habitat-project

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