Lake Forest Park residents needn’t look far and wide for a wildlife habitat — that is, if they have a backyard.
And decide to register it.
The Good Stewards habitat project is being introduced to the city by Stewardship Foundation members. The objective of the program is to encourage residents to register their yards as backyard habitats, and once enough are certified, members hope the city as a whole will become a community wildlife habitat.
“It is an educational project to teach people about wildlife needs and what we can do to preserve wildlife and land for ourselves,” said founding member Libby Fiene. “If our land is healthy, our environment is healthy for us as well.”
Fiene, a 28-year resident, was inspired to found a Good Stewards program as a Stewardship Foundation project, after reading about it in a National Wildlife Magazine several years ago. When the city of Tukwila implemented a program, she decided to begin working on one in Lake Forest Park.
Last spring, Fiene joined the Stewardship Foundation with the intent of bringing the idea for a Good Stewards program to members. In June she officially presented the idea to the organization, and shortly after joined the board and began soliciting for volunteers interested in organizing a committee. There were five original committee members, and another has recently been added.
Fiene said committee goals include having 150 certified backyard habitats — although she hopes to eventually have as many as 500 — as well as two schoolyard habitats, three certified parks, two public demonstration sites, three certified businesses and 25 certified apartment balconies.
Many residents already have what it takes to certify their backyards, Fiene said, especially since creeks extend through many residents’ properties.
Requirements for backyard certification include having food, water, shelter and places for nesting and raising young. Food can include seeds and berries from trees and shrubs, nectar and pollen from flowers and supplemental feeders. The water requirement can be met with a birdbath or shallow dish, pond, stream, wetland or lakeshore.
Shelter includes brush or rockpile, dense shrubs and vegetation. Nesting areas are Evergreens, deciduous trees and shrubs, nesting boxes and ponds.
Fiene said Mayor Dave Hutchinson endorsed the project and city staff have been helpful in working with the group, including sending out flyers to residents.
“We are hoping that good stewardship will be a value of every citizen and that wildlife will multiply,” Fiene said.
Shorecrest High School student Jackson Kellock, 17, is a student member of the Good Stewards committee. He said if 150 homes are registered as backyard wildlife habitat, the committee can eventually apply for the status of community wildlife habitat.
The benefit of being a community wildlife habitat, Kellock said, is that the group can apply to the National Wildlife Federation for grants to build parks in the city.
“The greatest benefit, however, is just what it does for the city,” Kellock said. “People maintaining their yards and planting native shelter.”
To date, Kellock said about 81 homes in the city are registered. Of the 81 homes, about 23 are registered with the National Wildlife Federation and the rest are registered with the Fish and Game Association, which also counts toward the total number.
Kellock said committee members consider the program to be a long-term project, which is just now getting underway. Monthly meetings began in December in order to plan upcoming events.
“We are not looking to make over the city in a matter of months,” Kellock said. “It is more that we want to let people know about the program and rally.”
The Good Stewards program will be featured March 19 at the second-annual Lake Forest Park environmental fair, “Dig it!”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
