For all of us who have grown up or have lived anywhere  in New Jersey for any length of time,  we all know far too well how much natural surroundings we have lost over the years.

Today our preserved natural areas have become a quiltwork of fragmented fields and forests that have become surrounded by suburban overdevelopment and landscaped with foreign plant species. This has stressed our birds, butterflies and pollinator population to their limits, with little left with for their battle for survival.

And to make matters worse, New Jersey may be the first state to reach “buildout,” which simply means that one day  hat all land in the Garden State will be either built on or preserved and that will be it.  In the end that will leave us with vast areas of wasteland when it comes to wildlife unlesswe save the landscape in which we live.

In a concerted effort to connect and expand our forests, nature centers and preserveswith a series of stepping stones that benefit migratory birds, butterflies and other wildlife, the  Bergen County Audubon Society started a program now in its second year that the entire community, no matter where you liv,e can take part in to help reverse the tide of habitat loss.

Our Certified Wildlife Garden program allows homeowners, communities, schools, businesses, places of worship, nature centers and others anywhere in New Jersey and for that matter any state at all to have their gardens  that benefit wildlife certified by Bergen County Audubon Society.

These certified gardens, of which there are now 84, are based primarily on the diversity of native plants in the landscape, which are the true foundation of a healthy wildlife habitat. This program helps create and track wildlife environments that will ultimately form rest-stops that will benefit not onlyour year-round wildlife but the migratory species well.

Although I have worked on habitat restoration projects for many years, the importance of preserving our backyard ecosystems was brought home to me a few summers ago. A BCAS volunteer was participating in our annual Monarch tagging program, in which the Monarch butterflies are tagged with a number to track their annual migration.

We were taken back when we found out that the butterflies that were tagged in his garden in Palisades Park showed up a few days later in another BCAS member’s butterfly garden in Hackensack, proving our point that every backyard habitat is important. We knew then that we had find a way to get as many people onboard to restore the ecology of all our backyards.

Certified gardens are given a number and marked on a map to illustrate wildlife areas that have been created.  The map is available on our website, Bergencountyaudubon.org .Upon completion and submission of your application it will be reviewed, and if approved, you will be awarded a certificate for your efforts.  The certificate will be emailed to you free of charge. In addition, lawn signs will be provided for free to every home, school, business and place of worship that is certified .

This is something we all can do today. We will not need to write letters, call our representatives or a hold picket sign. No matter the size of your yard you have the power to turn it into a beautiful landscape that benefits our birds and butterflies and will help our future generations of both people and wildlife live in a much healthier and happier community.

Throughout the year we will be giving seminars on how to create Certified Wildlife Gardens that will help our birds and butterflies and also make our community a better place for all of us to live.

To download an application for certification and our wildlife garden brochure go to  http://www.bergencountyaudubon.org/cwg/

Please contact me if you need more info  at greatauk4@gmail.com or 201-230-4983.