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Plant Life Valerie Easton

Going Wild

One backyard at a time, our neighbors are saving precious habitat

ONE PARK, SCHOOLYARD and backyard at a time, Lake Forest Park has achieved Community Wildlife Habitat status. Only the third community in our state and the 21st in the nation to achieve such a designation, leaders of the little city just north of Seattle were so highly motivated they fast-tracked their way to certification in just a couple of years. "On an aerial map, Lake Forest Park is a wedge of forest cover surrounded by urban sprawl," says Gretchen Muller in the Seattle office of the National Wildlife Federation. "They already had a deep conservation ethic and were restoring salmon habitat."

"Plant it and they will come" could be the mantra of the federation's program to preserve biodiversity. Remember Joni Mitchell's lyrics "pave paradise and put up a parking lot"? Communities have an effective antidote to development right in their own backyards, by encouraging good gardening practices like planting natives and eschewing chemicals. This same ethos helps preserve the watershed we all share.

Picture a network of native-rich gardens forming wildlife-friendly corridors through our neighborhoods, towns and cities. Birds, bees, butterflies and other critters shelter, drink, eat, reproduce and navigate through these urban greenways to safely reach our dwindling natural areas. Muller applauds the Puget Sound region as a national model in the quest to preserve and restore habitat. With three certified and five in the running, we have the greatest concentration of communities dedicated to providing wildlife-friendly habitat in the country.

And in case you ever doubt that one person can make all the difference, it was the vision and energy of Libby Fiene, who's lived in Lake Forest Park for 29 years, that set her city on the road to certification. "I was hiking in the mountains and realized I could garden with native plants," says Fiene, who says most people in the city have been delighted to learn how to eliminate lawn, use fewer chemicals and introduce native plants into their landscape. Five parks, two schools, a business and 160 backyards later, Fiene has achieved her goal, helped along by the LFP Stewardship Foundation, which was already restoring creeks and salmon habitat throughout the city.

To participate, a community must first register with the National Wildlife Federation. The program is surprisingly flexible; communities can be self-defined, which means you choose your own boundaries ranging from a city block to the entire city of Seattle. Two components are core to the program. Every community needs a number of backyard habitat gardens that provide food, water, cover and shelter for native creatures. The schoolyard-habitat component involves educating kids by creating outdoor living classrooms. The number of points required for certification varies with population size. For example, a neighborhood of 1,000 people would need to certify at least 20 backyards, two public spaces and one school, among other requirements.

Lake Forest Park joins Tukwila and Camano Island as the three certified communities in our state. Tukwila led the way, achieving certification in 2002. Camano Island boasts 560 backyard habitats and a network of like-minded people working to promote a sustainable environment. Bellingham, Alki, Fidalgo Island and Gig Harbor are all registered and working their way toward certification, which usually takes three to five years.

What's so powerful about the wildlife federation program is that so many segments of the community join in to achieve a common goal. The effect of backyard habitats is greatly enhanced by the participation of schools, businesses and municipalities. The city of Lake Forest Park has joined the effort, reducing pesticide and herbicide use along roadways and in the parks to almost nil. "We're pretty vigilant about best management practices in all our public areas," says Tema Nesoff, who works with the LFP Parks Commission.

For Fiene, the value of the Community Wildlife Habitat designation lies in communicating clearly to everyone what her city is all about. And maybe it'll prevent Lake Forest Park from suffering the all-too-common realization that Mitchell warned of: "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.

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