Backyards turned into sanctuaries for desert wildlife

Caitlin Hudgins

Friday, Sept. 3, 2004 | 4:45 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

September 4 - 7, 2004

In the fastest-growing city in the United States, new houses, complexes and hotels seem to sprout from the desert like weeds, mercilessly taking over the space that once served nature.

But now animals fleeing the ever-growing number of construction sites around the Las Vegas Valley officially have a new place to call home: Spanish Trail.

In April 2003 the National Wildlife Federation certified The Springs, a community in Spanish Trail, as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat that offers refuge to wild animals.

When Springs resident Cathy Harpster read about the program in Sunset magazine, she realized that her neighborhood's landscape already met most of the application requirements: It provided food, water, cover and places for animals to raise their young.

Since the area's native plants had always attracted local animals, Springs homeowners just had to send in paperwork, photographs and a statement about why the community would qualify as a habitat in order to be designated as such.

"We really didn't add much of anything from what we originally had," Jack Harpster said.

For homes or neighborhoods that aren't pre-qualified, the National Wildlife Federation offers guides on native plants and local animals as well as a starter kit and an online course on how to create acceptable habitats.

Backyard Wildlife Habitat program coordinator Lori Ward said most people who apply for certification live in suburban areas, but program participants range from inexperienced gardeners to veteran green thumbs.

"We have everything from city balconies to 400-acre farms," she said.

The Backyard Wildlife Habitat program has certified about 46,000 sites since it was established in 1973, including homes, businesses, community centers and neighborhoods.

The Springs houses mostly small animals, including coyotes, rabbits, ducks, frogs, toads and insects. Birds migrating between Canada and Mexico also use the habitat as a rest stop during their journey.

The animals that find either permanent homes or "stopover" sites at Spanish Trail are often forced to move there by the fast growth rate in Southern Nevada, Harpster said.

"All that land that was once vacant is now being built on, so they (animals) seem to be driven up in this direction," he said.

Urban development is a serious threat to native animals today, Ward said.

"If they're going down and mowing down the trees, there's nowhere for the wildlife to live and nothing for them to eat," she said.

But not only do the Springs' habitats provide local animals with a safe home, the certified yards also give the humans who create them a refuge of their own.

"It's a quiet haven to be able to sit and enjoy the small wildlife that might be around you," Harpster said. "There's a certain peacefulness to being able to do it."

Constructing backyard habitats also helps preserve the environment, Ward said, especially in drought-stricken areas such as Southern Nevada. The National Wildlife Federation encourages responsible gardening practices such as conserving water and using fewer chemicals to enhance plant growth.

Backyard habitats can also improve real estate, Ward said.

"Good landscaping can dramatically increase the value of a home," she said.

But overall, Harpster said, backyard habitats beautify neighborhoods while benefiting nature.

"By keeping your community such that it provides that sort of an urban refuge for wildlife improves the community as a whole," he said. "Each community or individual home that joins makes that much more difference."

For more information, call (702) 253-0104 or visit nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat.