Habitat Stewardship

CWF is committed to informing the public about the actions they can take to help conserve wildlife. Small gestures, from planting native plants to installing a pond in your own backyard, can make a world of difference to Canada’s wildlife.

Backyard Habitat Program
Since the Backyard Habitat Program’s launch in 1999, a continuous stream of wildlife-friendly information has been poured into yearly handouts, posters and our Wild About Gardening website. The goal of these and other initiatives has been to help Canadians realize the value of our wildlife, get inspired and give back, especially on their own property. Creating habitat – as well as conserving existing natural spaces – is crucial to the well-being of Canadian species like songbirds and pollinators at a time when so much wildlife habitat is being converted to concrete and bare lawns.

Our Backyard Habitat Certification Program has seen an additional 87 properties certified this 2009/2010 fiscal year, including many Bed & Breakfasts, thanks to our contest in partnership with B&B Canada. These additional properties – almost 600 hectares worth, brings the total number of CWF-certified properties to a whopping 452, with almost 2,500 hectares of Canadian land giving back to wildlife!

The program also created two new reusable bags in 2009: a shorelines bag, featuring species from our shorelines poster field guide, and a bat bag, which profiles Canadian bats also found on our popular bat poster.

Pollinators Habitat-Challenge (Défi –Habitat Pollinisateurs Project)
Le Défi Habitat-Pollinisateurs, a Quebec-based initiative, was created to increase awareness among the general public and gardeners about the many issues facing pollinators and the valuable roles they play in our environment and economy, as well as to prompt people to take action in the conservation of pollinators across the province.

The program, a collaboration between 54 non-profit organizations and seven schools, set out to teach others why these populations are plummeting, why pollinators are important and how to create habitat to aid in their recovery. The project resulted in over 5,000 native plants being planted, seeding projects that covered close to three square kilometres of land, 7,800 people receiving seeds, information and gardening guides from CWF and our network of partners, two feature magazine articles and over 47 organizations that carried out additional outreach education work. The program reached 31 cities in Quebec and was recognized by the City of Montreal, the CRE-Montreal and the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal, under the City of Montreal Sustainable Plan, as one of the two more innovative and important initiatives performed by NGOs in 2009.

Montreal Old Port
In 2010, we continued work on the beautiful native plant garden at the Montreal Old Port. Located adjacent to the King Edward entrance to the Old Port (in front of the Montreal Science Centre), the garden has an area of 175 square metres and displays some 60 species of native plants, including such vibrant, showy species as Canada columbine, verbena and coneflower.