Step 3:
Educate Your Community and Work on Certification Activities
Now the fun begins! It's time for the Habitat Team to get out into your community and educate your neighbors, certify habitats, and organize community projects.
For your community to become officially certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat site, your Habitat Team must earn points in each of the following areas:
Habitat Certification Goals
There is a sliding scale for habitat certification points, based on population size.
- One point for each home, townhome, or apartment certified as a Certified Wildlife Habitat site.
- Three points for every public site, workplace, park, place of worship, or other common area certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat site.
- Five points for every Schoolyard Habitats site certified.
- Ten bonus points if each member of the Habitat Team certifies their yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat site.
|
Points Needed
|
Sliding Scale Based on population size
|
Minimum in each section
|
|
Home
|
Common
Area/
Workplace
|
School
|
|
40
|
1,000 or less
|
20
|
2
|
1
|
|
100
|
1,000-5,000
|
50
|
2
|
1
|
|
150
|
5,001-10,000
|
75
|
3
|
2
|
|
175
|
10,001-15,000
|
100
|
3
|
2
|
|
200
|
15,001-20,000
|
100
|
4
|
3
|
|
225
|
20,001-25,000
|
150
|
4
|
4
|
|
250
|
25,001-50,000
|
150
|
5
|
5
|
|
300
|
50,000-100,000
|
200
|
6
|
5
|
|
400
|
100,001-300,000
|
300
|
7
|
5
|
|
500
|
300,001-500,000
|
400
|
10
|
5
|
|
750
|
500,001-1,000,000
|
600
|
10
|
6
|
|
1,000
|
1,000,001 or more
|
800
|
10
|
6
|
Education Goals
|
Points
|
Activity
|
|
5
|
Establish a resource library for your
project
|
|
5
|
Establish a information kiosk where
community members can get information about your project
|
|
5
|
Create a CWH project brochure
specific to your community
|
|
10
|
Write a regular column in your
community paper/newsletter to educate community members about your project
|
|
10
|
Secure a feature article in the local
media about your project
|
|
5
|
Second feature article
|
|
10
|
Hold a series of workshops to educate
community members about wildlife gardening
|
|
15
|
Hold a Habitat Stewards training
|
|
10
|
Host an annual event whose focus is
educating the community about the goals of your project
|
|
10
|
Each member of Habitat Team completes
Creating Places for Wildlife, NWF's online Distance Learning Program
|
|
5
|
Create and distribute a native plant list for
your community
|
|
TBD
|
Other Education Project (please discuss with NWF
staff)
|
|
Minimum required is 40 points
|
Community Projects Goals
|
Points
|
Activity
|
|
10
|
Create bulletin board or website where community
members can learn about your project
|
|
10
|
Examine your community’s weed
ordinances, and work to change them to be more native plant and habitat
friendly
|
|
10
|
Work with local park agencies to
convert parkland to wildlife friendly landscapes.
|
|
10
|
Host a workshop to educate builders
and developers in your community about what they can do to conserve habitat
during the site selection, planning, and conservation phases of their
projects.
|
|
5
|
Create an information booth at least
one community event
|
|
5
|
Coordinate a stream or trail clean-up
|
|
5
|
Plan a native plant rescue (at a site
to be developed or demolished)
|
|
10
|
Organize a native plant sale
|
|
10
|
Work with local nurseries to label
and/or provide native plants
|
|
10
|
Pass a community resolution supporting the Endangered Species Act (consult NWF staff for details)
|
|
10
|
College or university in your community enrolls as a NWF Campus Ecology member
|
|
10
|
College or university in your community takes the Campus Climate Challenge
|
|
10
|
Conduct a conversation with your NWF
affiliate to determine if they can assist with your project
|
|
5
|
Bonus points NWF affiliate partners
with your project
|
|
10
|
Conduct a conversation with your NWF
field office to determine if they can assist with your project
|
|
5
|
Bonus points NWF field office
partners with your project
|
|
5
|
Each Habitat Team member that serves
on community board or council related to environmental issues (up to 3)
|
|
5
|
Each presentation to organization not
yet associated with CWH project (up to 5)
|
|
10
|
Restore native plant communities
along stream and riverbanks to provide habitat and buffer waterways from
urban and agricultural runoff.
|
|
10
|
Hold a Frogwatch Training.
|
|
10
|
At least 3 residents sign up to be Frogwatch volunteers and submit at least 2 months of data.
|
|
TBD
|
Other Community Project (please
discuss with NWF staff)
|
|
Minimum required is 50 points
|
Administrative Goals
|
Points
|
Activity
|
|
Required
|
Maintain a project notebook
|
|
Required
|
Identify the individuals that will
make up the post-certification Habitat Team
|
|
3
|
Per new volunteer registered with
volunteer team (up to 20)
|
|
10
|
Per formalized partner affiliated
with your project (up to 5)
|
|
10
|
Each grant application submitted (up
to 3)
|
|
Minimum required is 20 points
|
|
