YARD/HABITAT CERTIFICATIONS

• Backyard Habitat Certification Program

  The Backyard Habitat Certification Program is a regional program that provides support and incentives for residents who seek to restore native habitat to their backyards. We help people create yards that are healthy for people, wildlife, and the planet.

  The program is offered to private residences (under one acre), as well as to schools, community groups, public institutions, and businesses. For $35, a Habitat Technician will visit the participant’s yard to identify noxious weeds and suggest beneficial native plants and other features that will attract and support birds and other wildlife. Recommendations are tailored to each participant’s yard and interests. Participants also receive other perks such as discounted prices on native plants, coupons to local garden centers, follow-up technical assistance, and certification signs to display in their yard.

  The Backyard Habitat Certification Program is a collaboration between Portland Audubon and Columbia Land Trust, with the program being facilitated in Clark County by the Watershed Alliance.

• Pollinator Protection Pledge

  The pollinator protection pledge is part of the Xerces Society’s Bring Back the Pollinators campaign, which is based on four simple principles: Grow pollinator-friendly flowers, provide nest sites, avoid pesticides, and spread the word.

  With these core values, pollinator conservation can be adapted to any location, whether you tend an urban community garden or a suburban yard, work in a city park or on a farm.

  Xerces Society Pollinator Pledge:

  1. Grow a variety of bee-friendly flowers that bloom from spring through fall.

  2. Protect and provide bee nests and caterpillar host plants.

  3. Avoid using pesticides, especially insecticides.

  4. Talk to my neighbors about the importance of pollinators and their habitat.

LOCAL INITIATIVES

• CLARK PUBLIC UTILITIES - POLLINATOR PROJECT

  Clark PUD has so many great initiatives and a pollintor garden at their operations center.

• CLARK COLLEGE NATIVE PLANT CENTER

  Lots of great information, make sure and check out their plant sale!

Tons of great information on mason bee stewardshiop including cacoon and nest management information. Orchard Mason Bees are the “perfect urban pollinator,” according to Brian L. Griffin, author of The Orchard Mason Bee:

1. They’re entirely non-aggressive.  They simply will not attack, singly or en-masse.

2. You won’t even know they’re around unless you stand and watch a nesting block.

3. They’re easy to keep in your yard from year to year.  All you do is provide the bee with holes in which to nest and blossoms from which to dine.

4. They’re much more efficient pollinators than the honey bee.

5. They propagate in the smallest of back yards, and they’re fun and fascinating to watch.

You too can become a bee keeper with mason bees! It’s easy to get started with this native pollinator. The orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria) is a small solitary bee which lives in thin reeds or holes left behind by other insects. They are typically non-stinging and since they don’t live in swarms these bees are easy to keep as “pets,” providing excellent pollinating services in early spring. Anybody with apple or pear trees would especially benefit from a population of orchard mason bees close by. Because of their gentle nature, mason bees are easy and fun to watch as they go about their business- a great activity for kids too!