M6: WILD Spaces
Background
Anyone – this means you! – can create or restore and maintain wildlife-friendly spaces. There are lots of options, even if you have only a little bit of space and limited resources, such as planting wildflowers, designing a garden or building a nesting box.
First, let’s go over the basic features needed to make up a wild space. Those components – essential things that all animals, including humans, need to survive – are food, water, shelter, native plants and earth-friendly upkeep.
Task
1) Food
A great start to building a wild space is providing wildlife with their favourite plant foods. It is important to include as many kinds of plants as you can – ones that bloom at varying times of the year. This way, animals have lots of food and lots of choices year-round.
Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, grasses, vines, ferns and perennial flowers (that come back year after year) provide plentiful food as flowers produce pollen and/or nectar for pollinating animals like bees, butterflies, beetles, flies and hummingbirds.
Once pollinated, these flowers transform into seeds, nuts and fleshy fruit that provide food for all sorts of birds and mammals. Variety is key – some birds and small mammals love acorns, some prefer the fleshy fruit of cherries, others love seeds from certain perennials. Even the sap from plants is a sweet treat to some birds. Your teacher can help you find resources if you want to learn more about the specific preferences of wildlife in your area.
A lot of things that you wouldn’t consider food are actually a needed meal for the various types of wildlife in your neighbourhood. For instance, the leaves of plants attracts a variety of insects. This is great for the birds, bats, toads and other wildlife that eat insects. Buds and twigs are a feast for rodents and some birds – particularly during the winter months. Even insects and invertebrates that live beneath leaf litter on the ground are food for some birds like robins, amphibians like frogs, reptiles like snakes and mammals like bears.
All of these interactions are important between plants and animals are important in nature and will be important in the wild space you are creating too.
2) Water
When you have a source of water in your wild space, you will be amazed at the wildlife you can attract. After all, water is the basis for all life. It is needed for drinking, keeping clean, staying healthy and cooling off. Some animals rely on water for safety too. Some ducks sleep on the water at night to avoid predators, and some amphibians jump into it when they sense danger.
Water sources for wildlife can be natural features such as streams, ponds, rivers and other water bodies, but if you do not have a source of water near your wild space, you can easily add one by filling a bird bath – or even just a bowl – with water. Add a few sticks and stones and let them peek out of the water to act as perching spots for birds and insects. It is important to change this water regularly so that it is clean, and the animals that use it stay healthy.
3) Shelter
The same plants that you add to your wild space to provide a variety of foods for wildlife can also act as shelter.
Trees, for instance, make great homes for birds, insects, small mammals, and more. Evergreen trees such as spruce, cedar and pine keep their green needles year-round, providing effective cover when it is cold out. Deciduous trees shed their leaves but they block sun when their leaves fan out in summer and they allow for more air circulation. Both types of trees offer protection from hungry predators.
One thing to consider as you choose your variety of plants is plant height. A variety of plant heights is important because different creatures prefer shelters – or plants – of different height. The top portion of tall trees is great for some, the areas in between are preferred by others. Even a low-to-the-ground flower can provide shelter for insects and spiders.
Dead or dying trees and tree stumps, also called snags, of all different heights are perfect for cavity-nesting animals. Different sized snags are important for nesting and roosting. Many birds need the cavities in these snags – including birds that help control our rodent and insect population. Even mergansers and wood ducks are known to nest in trees! Mammals like squirrels nest in snag cavities, and so do bats. This is wonderful, as bats will eat hundreds of mosquitoes and grub-laying moths – all while you lie asleep at night!
Plants with pithy stems such as elderberry, raspberry, sumac and annual sunflowers provide nesting sites for bees. Some bees will even spend the winter in these stems. So always leave any clean-up of dead plants in your wild space for the spring instead of the fall.
Smaller animals – like our pollinators – need places to lay their eggs. A flower garden or wild area in a corner for butterflies can do just the trick, while a patch of bare ground can be perfect for certain bees.
Rock and brush piles are also useful structures for wildlife. Leaving a log to rot on the ground can provide shelter – and feeding grounds – for a variety of species such as the blue-spotted salamander or the shy ovenbird.
Maintaining or recreating shelter spots and supplementing with roosting and nesting boxes can also go a long way towards preventing outbreaks of potential pest species and the destruction caused by such imbalances.
4) Native plants
Native plants are plants that have grown wild in your area for centuries. Because they have been around for a long time, they have adapted to the local environment and wildlife. This makes native plants a great choice for supporting the animals in your area.
Most plants that you buy at the store are not native. They come from different areas of the world or are bred by people for special characteristics, just as people breed dogs to look a certain way. Generally, these plants are not as good at supporting wildlife as native plants are. However, some non-native plants can still be beneficial to wildlife, as long as they are not invasive species that overrun a wild space.
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Native plants have a few special advantages over regular garden plants:
- They require less attention. If they are in a spot that matches the light and soil moisture they would experience in nature, they need very little water and fertilizer.
- They are less likely to have diseases and pests.Since these plants have lived in the local environment for a very long time, they have developed defenses that allow them to coexist with other local species, nearly eliminating the need for pesticides in your wild space.
- They are better suited to meet the needs of local wildlife. Native plants provide valuable food sources and shelter for the wildlife around them. Many non-native flowers that you buy in regular stores have been bred to look pretty but may not have much nectar and pollen to offer.
In the next unit, you will be given a list of plants that are best for monarch butterflies. To find out more about which plants are best for your wild space, ask your teacher or leader for help. You can also research on the internet, look for library books about native plants, or ask your local nature club which plants are helpful to local wildlife.
5) Earth-friendly care
Our choices matter. Choices like whether or not we recycle, where we put our garbage, and whether or not we spray manmade chemicals on our wild space. These choices and many more have an effect on the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we need for healthy plants and nutritious food.
Once you’ve created a wild space, you will need to care for it in an earth-friendly way so it remains a safe haven for the creatures that visit it. Let nature be your guide. In garden stores, you can buy a lot of man-made products, but they are usually not earth-friendly options. This table offers some earth-friendly options for you to try on your wild space:
| Problem | At the store | Earth-friendly option |
| Plants need nutrients (food) | Man-made fertilizer | Compost or manure |
| Insect pests | Man-made insecticides | Picking insect pests off of plants and dropping them into a bucket of soapy water. Or planting strong smelling herbs that plant eating insects won’t like near vulnerable plants |
| Weeds (aka unwanted plants) | Man-made herbicides | Using mulch to help prevent weeds or using specialized tools to remove weeds |
| Plants need watering | Garden hoses and sprinkler systems | Try using a barrel to collect rain water. Garden hoses and sprinkler system are okay to use but it is important to use them at particular times – like early morning – and to not run them for too long. |
You are doing so much to do your part and help wildlife by creating and maintaining a wild space!
Learning Objectives
Discover the basics of any wild space.
Continue to M7: WILD Spaces for Monarchs »
