It’s a great big world out there, unless, of course, you’re an animal.

For wildlife, urban sprawl and growth means people are getting more leg room at their expense. But in Rae Edwards’ opinion, it’s time we learned to share.

“Wildlife are losing their homes,” says Edwards, volunteer coordinator at Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department. “I don’t think anybody is going to argue that point. By increasing the spaces in our yards and parks, we’re giving them a chance to live side by side in the habitat that was once theirs.”

To help create places that can be friendly for all walks of life, Edwards encourages businesses, homeowners and renters to make backyard wildlife habitats in spaces that might otherwise contain only a manicured lawn. It doesn’t have to be a big project for it to have an impact.

“A lot of yards, you don’t have something big enough to be a habitat, but two or three houses in a neighborhood and you could,” she says. “It’s really the cumulative effect, giving sanctuary to birds moving through or reptiles or the insects birds eat on their way through.”

For a place to qualify as a backyard wildlife habitat, Edwards says it needs to have four things:

• food, such as plants that have fruit that wildlife can eat.
• water, such as a pond or birdbath.
• shelter and a place to raise young, both of which can simply be layers of plants and trees or nesting boxes for birds.

With just a little bit of work, a once barren yard could become a haven for insects, butterflies, birds, deer, frogs and salamanders.

A group of volunteers are working to certify Bellingham as a community wildlife habitat, which requires wildlife habitats certified in 250 backyards, 20 businesses, 20 balconies or patios, 10 parks, five schoolyards and five public demonstration gardens.

Bellingham is well on its way, as Edwards estimates the city contains about 150 backyard habitats.

“It’s just a little way to give back to the Earth, making enough room for wildlife and people, and it can be done,” she says. “If it’s good for wildlife, it’s probably pretty good for us too.”

BACKYARD WILDLIFE HABITAT TIPS

Here are a few tips from Rae Edwards, volunteer coordinator for Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department, on how to turn your backyard into a sanctuary for wildlife.

Avoid non-native, invasive plants at all cost. Ivy, reed canary grass, holly, Japanese knotwood and lanium are just a few of the plants that can take over a yard and kill native species.

Plant native species. They’re more suitable for the area and are less likely to need fertilizer or watering to survive.

Reduce your use of pesticides and herbicides. “When we reduce our herbicides and pesticides and let the natural ecology of insects happen, it attracts the birds,” she says.

If you’d like to turn all or some of your lawn into a friendlier habitat, put down cardboard over whatever grass you’d like to plant over, then top it off with some chunky mulch and topsoil. The grass will die out without light and the cardboard will decompose and allow for root growth for new plants.

Choose plants that can be eaten in all different seasons to attract the widest variety of wildlife.

Set up unpainted nesting boxes for birds.

To certify your yard as a backyard wildlife sanctuary, call the Parks and Recreation Department at 778-7700 or go online at www.cob.org/parks and click on Parks and Recreation Services to find out about backyard wildlife habitats.