Find a Public Garden that is a Certified Wildlife Habitat

There is a long history of the National Wildlife Federation recognizing public gardens for their wildlife friendly actions. Even as far back as 2003, the U.S. Botanic Garden was named the 100,000^th Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Today, roughly 200 public gardens nationwide are recognized as Certified Wildlife Habitats. You can visit one in your region to get inspiration for your own wildlife garden. See how these gardens use native species, water features, and landscaping to support wildlife and make their space enjoyable for people too.

Find a Certified Wildlife Habitat public garden near you.

Garden Highlight: The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, AK

“The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks is proud to be a Certified Wildlife Habitat, with a strong focus on native plants and pollinator education. Our dedicated Ozark native plant garden showcases species that support local ecosystems and provides a model for visitors looking to incorporate natives at home.

We also partner with organizations such as White River Nursery and the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists to offer educational programming and seasonal native plant sales.

Pollinator conservation is a core part of our work. In partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Beekeepers Association, we maintain an on-site apiary and provide educational opportunities focused on the importance of bees and other pollinators.”

– Ashley Wardlow, Executive Director at The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks

Garden Highlight: Cape Fear Botanical Garden, NC

“Cape Fear Botanical Garden (Fayetteville, North Carolina) supports a variety of native plants and pollinator species throughout key areas of the Garden, including the Butterfly Stroll, Pond Lawn, and Wellons Arbor.

These connected spaces create an expanded habitat where pollinators can feed, nest, and rest, contributing to a healthier local ecosystem. 

These plantings also support a wider range of wildlife, including birds, beneficial insects, and other native species that rely on these habitats for food and shelter.

Beyond these cultivated areas, the Garden’s wooded trails provide important habitat for larger mammals that often go unseen within the city.

While visitors may occasionally spot white-tailed deer, the Garden supports a broader range of species, reinforcing its role as a meaningful urban refuge for wildlife.

By designing and preserving these varied spaces, we not only support wildlife activity but also make it visible and accessible to our guests. Visitors are able to observe these interactions in real time, deepening their understanding of the essential role native plants and habitats play in sustaining both pollinators and the broader ecosystem.”

– Beth Hess, Marketing Consultant at Cape Fear Botanical Garden

Garden Highlight: Smithsonian Gardens

The Smithsonian Gardens was the 81st public garden to get recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat® back in 2020.

“Each Smithsonian Garden adeptly weaves the theme of specific museums to the natural history and elements of the habitat gardens on their grounds.  Recent reports of the loss of 3 billion birds across North America since 1970 make exhibits like the National Museum of Natural History’s Urban Bird Habitat essential.

The exhibit highlights the diversity of spaces where birds live and raise their young through large-scale realistic nests. The African American Museum’s Live Oak grove tells the story of the shelter and gathering place these trees provided in the African American journey to freedom and community building.

The story then connects the sheltering theme to how oak trees provide multitudes of insects, birds, and other wildlife with a place of cover. For example, an oak tree is a host for over 500 insect species.”

– Mary Phillips, National Wildlife Federation

Learn more about this garden here!

Go Public Gardens!

Go Public Gardens is a year-round initiative led by The American Public Gardens Association to encourage the public to visit, value, and volunteer at public gardens.

With so many public gardens that are Certified Wildlife Habitats, we hope you take the time to visit one near you.

We need to celebrate the communities and all generations throughout the monarch flyway that are contributing to this success, and at the same time, we need to take stock of what is working and continue with our efforts to recover the monarch butterfly whose future remains uncertain. 7.24 acres is indeed a success compared to the previous season, but the goal for the overwintering population established in 2015 is 15 acres.

One thing we can be certain contributes to the recovery of the monarch butterfly are the many small native plant habitats that jewel the landscape. These smaller gardens are essential habitat that help connect to larger native plant spaces, creating safe intervals for the monarch butterfly to fly between areas of rest and nourishment during their long migration.

Schools as Hubs for Monarch Education and Outreach

As hubs of their community, schools can play a vital role in connecting urban centers to larger swaths of habitat. When schools create gardens for the monarch butterfly with native milkweed and nectar plants, they are not only creating a safe space for monarchs to refuel and lay their eggs in the spring, but they also often create a ripple effect of habitat education, replication, and stewardship into their surrounding community.

Schools serve as the place community members and volunteers can engage to learn and take action, whether helping to build and maintain the gardens or learning from the students and discovering free resources. They are also the place community members can give back by sharing their knowledge.

Monarch Heroes Schools

As part of Monarch Heroes 10^th Anniversary Celebration, we lift up a handful of the schools who are serving as hubs for monarch butterfly recovery in their communities. Below are some stories from across Texas of how Monarch Heroes gardens have grown beyond school grounds.

Teachers from Woodlawn Academy (San Antonio) and Pattersen Elementary (Houston) take gardening from school to home and build neighborhood and family connections in the process.

Lucia Francese, Teacher, Woodlawn Academy, San Antonio

Monarch Heroes has not only changed my way of teaching but my way of living. I am much more conscious of native plants. I have started growing native plants on my balcony. I have convinced friends to plant native plants in their yards, and this spring on my drive from San Antonio to Houston, I called my mom to describe in detail all the native wildflowers blooming along the highways. This program helped me take my interest in conservation to a true passion and has given me the tools to not only take personal action, but to inspire others to take action as well.

Maria Karen Locke, Teacher, Pattersen Elementary, Houston

Inspired and motivated by the Monarch Heroes garden at our school, I planted a monarch habitat garden at my home. I included milkweed and nectar-rich flowers to support monarch butterflies and other pollinators throughout their life cycle. I continue to expand my garden and share what I’ve learned with my family, neighbors and community. I have shared its purpose with my co-teachers, adminstrators, students and families, discussed my personal experience creating a home habitat, and encouraged participation in planting and caring for the garden.

Students and families have also been inspired to take action at home by reviving their existing gardens with native plants or by starting small pollinator-friendly gardens, and planting milkweed to support monarch butterflies. Many have also inquired about which pollinator plants to use and where to get them. So, we know they are taking it seriously!

School garden teams at Ann Richards Middle School (Austin), Baker Montessori (Houston), and Diamond Hill Elementary (Fort Worth) build community connections and support for gardens through spreading neighborhood gardens and the value of habitat stewardship.

Carey Warner, Teacher, Ann Richards Middle School, Austin, TX

Through a year-long senior project on geriatric depression, students at Ann Richards Middle School explored practical ways to support emotional well-being in adults over 65. Their research revealed that regular exposure to nature can significantly improve mood and help reduce symptoms of depression. Inspired by these findings, the students partnered with the South Austin Senior Activity Center to create a native plant monarch garden.

Now certified by the National Wildlife Federation, the garden serves as a vital habitat for monarch butterflies, offering food and shelter during their migration. But its impact goes beyond environmental benefits. The garden has become a shared community space where seniors can connect, contribute, and find creative inspiration. Whether tending to the plants or using the space for art, participants often experience a renewed sense of purpose and belonging—key factors in reducing loneliness.

Feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. In a survey conducted by the students, every respondent at the Activity Center said the monarch garden brought them joy, and all expressed interest in learning more about it and seeing it expand.

Simone Roemhild, Teacher, Baker Montessori, Houston, TX

Learning about native plant species has shaped our decision processes about what to plant throughout our campus. As neighbors and by-passers notice us creating habitat, they get curious. We now have a regular group of families taking care of the Spark-Park, and we have had several parents lead planting events in collaboration with Trees for Houston. As we establish more “planted islands” at the perimeter of our school, neighbors are starting to feel comfortable and encouraged to plant herbs, native flowers and grasses. Slowly but surely, we are enticing humans to start connecting and stewarding these little islands of public lands in the heart of H-Town (Houston).

Tina Culp-McDonald, Teacher Diamond Hill Elementary, Fort Worth, TX

At our Earth Day celebration, several parents shared with me that their children are more aware of the nature around them and have even scolded a parent or two for being careless with plants and/or insects at home. We made seed balls and students and parents were able to drop them in areas of the neighborhood that could use some brightening up. One parent said her daughter now wants to make a pollinator space in the backyard and had asked mom if they could get a tree trimmed so there would be more light.

Whether community members volunteer to create monarch gardens, attend student led campus community forums or volunteer to share their knowledge with students, the ripple effect and impact on monarch conservation is real.

A teacher from Cunningham Elementary (Austin) switches career paths to found a non-profit, PEAS, and support school gardens across a city.

Lauren Maples, Founder and Executive Director of PEAS, Austin, TX (Former teacher Cunningham Elementary, Austin)

Building upon my experience as a teacher at Cunningham Elementary, at PEAS (Partners in Education, Agriculture, and Sustainability), we have extended the impact of the Monarch Heroes program by incorporating pollinator education into our broader curriculum and supporting other schools in developing and enhancing their own pollinator gardens. The lessons and practices rooted in the Monarch Heroes program now reach additional educators, students, and communities beyond a single campus.

Students often take on the role of educators within their own households. They encourage their families to avoid pesticide use and help them understand how even small actions can support pollinators. Some families extend their involvement into the broader community by tending the school gardens and advocating for pollinator-friendly landscaping in shared spaces. These actions demonstrate how the Monarch Heroes program helps cultivate not only knowledge but a sense of responsibility that carries beyond the classroom and into the community.

Resources

• To learn more about the Monarch Heroes program visit our website.
• To help your students advocate for the Monarch butterfly in their city, consider having them write a letter to their mayor. A template letter is available here.
• Come and Celebrate 10 years of Monarch Recovery with the Monarch Heroes Program at our spring student showcases in May: Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

1. Gardening Can Help Decrease Anxiety, Depression, and Stress

Just being outside can be incredibly good for our mental health, but when you add the physical element of moving around in the garden to plant, water, and pull weeds, the positive impacts are undeniable. Many studies have shown that gardening can reduce stress, improve mood, and generally supplement well-being.

2. Listening to Backyard Birds Can Reduce Stress

When you garden for wildlife, many species will visit your yard. One of the first visitors you may notice are songbirds. They will likely come to your yard to eat seeds and insects off native plants and maybe even to build nests in the foliage. Attracting birds to our gardens is especially good for our mental health because listening to just six minutes bird song has been proven to reduce anxiety and paranoia. Scientists believe this is, primarily, because birds stop singing when they perceive threats, and so hearing birdsong generally indicate that no predators are nearby.

3. Soil Bacteria Can Improve Mood

When we think of the benefits of gardening, our immediate thought may not be about the dirt beneath our nails, but  it turns out that  that soil microbes might be part of the payoff! Research on the common soil bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae has been shown to trigger anti-inflammatory responses in the brain and  increase serotonin, which regulates mood.

While most of this work has been in animal models, researchers have indicated that it’s good for people to be outdoors and have contact with these bacterium too—and in fact, our modern disconnection from soil microbes may partly explain rising rates of stress-related disorders.

4. Watching Wildlife Can Improve our Wellbeing

One of the great joys of wildlife gardening is that you will start to see animals benefit from your yard. From butterflies visiting flowers to bunnies hopping through the foliage, there are tons of opportunities to sit back and watch wildlife outside your window. These kinds of interactions with wildlife have been shown to improve our wellbeing and help us feel more connected to nature.

5. Gardening is Good for the Body (Which is Good for the Mind)

Gardening includes all kinds of movement including walking, carrying heavy objects, and squatting. Gardening encourages you to move in various ways that serve as both strength training and cardio. The benefits of both strength and cardio for our health can’t be overstated, from positive impacts to our heart health to improvements on overall life expectancy. Gardening is a great way to earn all of the benefits of working out, while helping wildlife too!

6. Gardening is Especially Beneficial as We Get Older

On top of all of the benefits we’ve already covered, being in the garden is especially good for us as we get older. Gardening can improve self-esteem, provide meaningful exercise, and even offer opportunities for social engagement as we age, particularly if you’re gardening in community spaces.

Get Gardening!

This month, you can get involved by turning your own garden into a wildlife habitat! Try planting native species to help wildlife and see if your garden is ready to become a Certified Wildlife Habitat® in our online quiz!

1. Plan Your Garden with Native Plant Lists

Take time this April to sit down and plan your garden. One great goal is to add 5 more native species into your garden this year. Take a look at our keystone plant lists by ecoregion or go to our Native Plant Finder where you can get a custom native plant list by zip code!

2. Take a Personality Quiz to Find Out Which Native Plant YOU Are!

It’s rare that we think of plants as having personalities, but plants have a lot of interesting adaptations that give them character. Native Plant Month is a great time to take our Native Plant Personality Quiz, to see which native plant YOU are most like!

3. Buy Native Plants at 15% Off!

Use the code PLANTNATIVE15 for 15% off plant orders* at Garden for Wildlife Inc and get native plants shipped right to your doorstep!

Garden for Wildlife Inc ships to all 48 continental states and features collections of chemical-free plants that are backed by science to help the highest number of declining wildlife species.

*Excludes merch, gift cards, and bulk products. This code will only be active April 1 through April 30. This code cannot be combined with any other discount or markdown.

4. Get Your Garden Certified at 20% Off!

For the month of April, you can get your garden recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat® and get a yard sign, all for 20% off with the code GARDEN20 when you certify!

These signs are a great way to communicate the impact and intent of your garden to neighbors.

5. Learn How to Use Cues of Care in Your Native Garden

One question we get a lot from gardeners is about how to make their native garden look inviting and tidy to their neighbors. Just because your garden supports wildlife, doesn’t mean it needs to look wild. Find out how you can use cues of care in your garden to make it neighbor-friendly! Learn more here.

6. Create a Native Plant Container Garden

Providing essential wildlife habitat doesn’t have to take acres— it can even be done in a small container garden! Read up on our tips for creating a native plant container garden, perfect for anyone with a balcony, deck, courtyard, or window boxes!

7. Plant a Monarch-Friendly Garden

Monarch caterpillars are picky eaters. They can only eat one thing: milkweed. Milkweed is what we call their “host plant”, meaning that the caterpillar depends on it as a food source and cannot survive without it.

Discover which milkweed is best for monarchs and how you can select other nectar plants for a monarch-friendly garden! Learn more here.

8. Share Your Native Plant Journey!

Have you been planting native in your garden? We want to hear your story and see photos of your incredible landscape! Share it with us here.

These inspiring stories from gardeners like you may be shared in a blog, on social media, and even on our website as a way to inspire other gardeners to get planting.

The state of Maryland has identified the neighborhood as having significant environmental justice concerns including air and water quality, heat and flood risks, and other impacts of pollution. Through engagement, service, and advocacy, the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation (Druid Heights CDC) is working closely with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to re-develop and revitalize the green spaces in one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods to improve these conditions.

Environmental Outreach, Education, and Engagement Projects

Despite sitting near Druid Hill Park and the Jones Falls creek, infrastructure like large highways, train tracks, and lack of access points keep the neighborhood disconnected from natural spaces. As part of Druid Heights CDC’s ongoing efforts to better connect neighbors to nature and address wider watershed health issues, NWF is once again partnering with the community to support greening and watershed education through the Druid Heights to Jones Falls project. This project combines public education on water quality, water pollution, and local watersheds with restoration of community green spaces.

In addition to working with Grow Home (a local youth leadership and green workforce development program aimed at revitalizing the existing rain and pollinator gardens at the Druid Heights Peace Park and Elijah Cummings Nature Play Space), the Druid Heights CDC and NWF are hosting a series of workshops and educational events as part of the Druid Heights to Jones Falls project.

Rather than simply restoring green community spaces, the partnership will help deepen the connection between Druid Heights residents and the Jones Falls Watershed by offering hands-on experiences in understanding how small-scale infrastructure can improve watershed health.

With the right tools, residents of this historic neighborhood have the power to improve the health of their community and local environment.

Educational Workshops

A key component of the Druid Heights to Jones Falls project is supporting community members in building a relationship with their green spaces. By targeting key age groups with specially designed events, community members will be invited to explore their unique role in protecting the Jones Fall Watershed.  

In December 2025, the first event took students from the Druid Heights CDC after school program on a field trip for an educational nature walk at Druid Hill Park and along the Jones Falls creek to learn about the interconnection of the park, stream, and Druid Heights within the Jones Falls Watershed and the Chesapeake Bay.

Upcoming events will take the after school program on a second field trip to the Baltimore Harbor, work with summer campers to stencil storm drains, engage adults from the Green Thumb Club in park clean-up and planting events, and invite seniors on a field trip to learn about watersheds, stormwater, flooding, and pollution and how best to protect waterways, improve ecological conditions, and advocate for positive environmental change.

The final two events will be community planting and “spruce-up” days at the Elijah Cummings Nature Play Space and Druid Heights Peace Park. By cleaning trash, removing invasive plants and weeds, and planting new trees, shrubs, and perennials, residents will help restore the ecological functionality of these important spaces.

Measuring Success

In this historic neighborhood, the Druid Heights to Jones Falls project looks to connect an already interconnected community to the green spaces and watersheds that impact their water quality and ecological health.

The ultimate measure of success for this Chesapeake Bay Trust funded work will be in seeing renewed interested in active, positive use of community green spaces and residents who feel empowered to advocate for improved water quality in the Jones Fall and Chesapeake Bay Watersheds.

Supporting communities in building their capacity to steward green spaces, green stormwater infrastructure, and wildlife habitat is a long-term process. With sustained commitment to the Druid Heights community and the health of their watershed, the National Wildlife Federation, Druid Heights CDC, and residents of this historic neighborhood are taking steps small yet critical steps toward community and ecological resilience.

In the spring, the Eastern and Western populations of monarchs migrate northeast and northwest, respectively, reaching the U.S. border with Canada. In autumn, both populations migrate to their wintering sites. The Eastern population migrates to the high and cold mountains of central Mexico, and the Western population migrates to the coast of California, where they spend the entire winter from November to March.

In recent decades, monarch butterflies have declined by more than 90 percent. They are threatened by climate change, excessive pesticide use, and habitat loss in their breeding, migratory and wintering grounds. Their habitats include, among others, native nectar plants and milkweed, the only food source on which monarch butterfly larvae depend to begin their life cycle.

The National Wildlife Federation makes the following six recommendations in support of monarch butterfly conservation:

1. Include the monarch butterfly as a threatened species, under the Endangered Species Act.
2. Reduce or eliminate, the use of pesticides and herbicides that directly affect butterflies and their habitats, milkweed, nectar plants, and wildlife in general.
3. Create a monarch friendly garden, planting milkweed and native nectar plants for the survival of caterpillars and monarch adults.
4. Encourage local authorities to be part of the initiative, Mayors ‘ Monarch Pledge, the National Wildlife Federation’s program that supports monarch butterfly conservation. From 2015 to date, more than 1,200 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada are part of this initiative.
5. Call on Congress to pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act and the Monarch Act of 2025.
6. Participate in citizen science activities.

You can read this blog in Spanish here.

En la primavera, las poblaciones oriental y occidental de las monarcas migran hacia el noreste y noroeste respectivamente, llegando hasta la frontera de Canadá con Estados Unidos. En otoño, ambas poblaciones migran a sus sitios de invernación. La población oriental, migra a las montañas altas y frías del centro de México y la población occidental migra a la costa de California, donde pasan todo el invierno de noviembre a marzo.

En las últimas décadas, las mariposas monarca han sufrido un declive de más del 90 por ciento. Están amenazadas por el cambio climático, el uso excesivo de pesticidas y la pérdida de su hábitat en sus zonas de reproducción, migración e invernación. Sus hábitats incluyen, entre otras, a las plantas nativas que proveen néctar y al algodoncillo, del género Asclepias, la única fuente de alimento de la que dependen las larvas de la monarca para completar su ciclo de vida.

Estas son seis recomendaciones de National Wildlife Federation para ayudar a salvar a las mariposas monarca:

1. Incluir a la mariposa monarca como una especie amenazada, bajo la Ley Federal de Especies en Peligro de Extinción. 
2. Reducir, o eliminar, el uso de pesticidas y herbicidas que afectan directamente a las mariposas y sus hábitats, al algodoncillo, a las plantas que proveen néctar y a la vida silvestre en general.
3. Crear jardines silvestres, sembrando algodoncillo y plantas nativas de néctar para la supervivencia de las orugas y los adultos de la monarca. 
4. Alentar a las autoridades locales a ser parte de la iniciativa trinacional, Mi Municipio con la Monarca, (Mayors’ Monarch Pledge), el programa de National Wildlife Federation que apoya la conservación de la mariposa monarca. Desde el 2015 hasta la fecha, más de 1,200 ciudades en Estados Unidos, México y Canadá son parte de esta iniciativa.
5. Pedirle al Congreso aprobar, el proyecto de ley de recuperación de la vida silvestre de Estados Unidos, Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, y el proyecto de ley de conservación y recuperación del hábitat de la mariposa monarca, Monarch Act de 2025.
6. Participar en actividades de ciencia ciudadana.

Puedes leer este blog en inglés aquí.

1. WildSTEM Summer Internships 

The Masonville Cove Urban Wildlife Refuge and local Links chapters in Columbia (MD) and Harbor City (MD) have launched a summer WildSTEM internship program. This six-week, paid internship introduces college students to wildlife science, careers in conservation, and opportunities for community engagement. Students build their resumes and network with experts from the Maryland Port Administration, Living Classrooms Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Aquarium, among other professional spaces.

2. A 106-Year-Old Joins The Links in the Annual Great Backyard Bird Count 

Over the years, The Links have continued to expand WildSTEM activities and resources to engage chapters in meaningful environmental education. This year, The Links hosted their 5th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Audubon Society’s nationwide initiative to observe and document bird species in local communities. 

Generations old and young have come together to participate in backyard bird counts across the country. This effort has been tremendously successful, with 46 percent of members of the Port City (TX) Chapter of The Links participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count last winter.

3. Blacks In International Conservation & Minorities in Marine Science 

The WildSTEM program has bloomed, supporting various partnerships and events over the years. The Patuxent River (MD) Chapter of The Links hosted a Black Pioneers in International Conservation and WildSTEM Career Awareness Day at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.This half-day program was led by Mariko Bennett and her fellow International Trends and Services Facet chapter members to support junior high and high school girls in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia.

This program’s goal was to inspire young women of color to pursue careers in conservation, encourage environmental action, and emphasize the ‘One Health’ approach linking human, animal, and environmental well-being. 

Participants explored the zoo through a guided behind-the-scenes tour and scavenger hunt, followed by a thought-provoking conversation on climate change and environmental justice. The event concluded with a professional mentoring panel, moderated by conservation leaders, such as Dr. Kim Jefferies Leonard, past national president of The Links, Incorporated.

The speakers highlighted the impact of pollution and climate change while showcasing career pathways in international conservation and various WildSTEM industries. This event was hosted in collaboration with: 

• The Smithsonian National Zoological Park
• The National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s Metropolitan Washington D.C. Chapter
• Global-Minded, Empowered, and Motivated for Success (GEMS)
• Girls Inc.
• Prince William County (MD) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated

4. Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) 

The Links Incorporated has fostered partnerships with organizations such as MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) and NSBE, Jr. (National Society of Black Engineers) to bring enhanced STEM education to their students. Dr. Anna Lamikanra is a member of the Greater Denton County (TX) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and a member of the Gamma Alpha Omega Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in McKinney, TX.

Last December, Dr. Lamikanra and the Gamma Alpha Omega Zeta MANRRS chapter held an educational outing at The Donkey Haven in McKinney, TX.

This event combined hands-on animal science education with community service, providing students and attendees with a unique look into equine biology. The students engaged in an interactive session focused on the biological and evolutionary traits of donkeys and their relatives.

5. STEM-Exposed National Watch Parties 

The LINKS-STEMREADY committee pioneered two ‘STEM Exposed National Webinar Live Watch Parties’ where chapters across the country brought students and community members together for an engaging and interactive STEM experience. 

“As an African American female engineer, I know that exposure changes outcomes. These webinars open doors by making STEM real, relatable, and attainable for students who are too often left out of these conversations. By connecting young minds to fun and engaging content along with professional and student trailblazers, entrepreneurs, and scholars who look like them, STEMExposed builds confidence, sparks curiosity, and helps students see themselves as future innovators. Sharing this knowledge matters—it plants seeds of possibility and ensures our students are prepared to lead in STEM careers, unlocking potential and launching our students toward revolutionary innovation, and bold, imaginative, and limitless futures.”

-Diann Dixon Jackson, member of the LINKS-STEMREADY National Signature Program Committee

STEM Exposed Part One, hosted in November 2024, focused on exploring the intersection of chemistry, chemical engineering, personal care, and the environment.

Forty-six chapters of The Links participated in hosting live watch parties, engaging more than 4,025 students. Some of these students were representative of an entire middle school district that attended the webinar. Highlights Included: 

• Honored guest speakers were Heman Bekele, the 2024 Time Magazine Kid of the Year, his 3M Young Scientist mentor Deborah Isabelle, and Hakeem Henry, a Palmolive Quantum Chemist at Colgate. 
• The Links gave away 8 computers from the Lenovo Foundation and Colgate Bright Smiles Bright Future educational materials to over 25 national chapters.

The Links returned stronger with a 2025 Earth Day-themed summit focused on showcasing STEM stars, such as National Wildlife Federation Conservation Scientist Corina Newsome, who spoke about being an ornithologist, birder, and science communicator. This event reached over 4,000 students across 43 different watch parties at local schools. Two entire school districts participated! Other guest speakers included:

• Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant (NBC Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom Television Host)
• Jordan Roberts (Marine Biologist, Performing Artist)
• West Muhammad (14-year-old HBCU Cybersecurity Engineering Major)
• Temple Lester (Teenager/Entrepreneur, STEM Girls Swag)
• Zoe Oli (13-year-old TED Talk youngest and CEO of Beautiful Curly Me)

The Links team distributed 16 Lenovo tablets, $2,000 in gift cards, and Beautiful Curly Me STEM dolls. 

6. WildSTEM goes Global  

The Links Incorporated has brought our WildSTEM curriculum directly to schools across Jamaica. The Oakland County (MI) and the Essex County (NJ) Chapters of The Links worked with a fourth-grade class to plant the first Certified Wildlife Habitat at St. Mary’s Preparatory School in 2021. Four gardens have been established in the years since, led by the James River Valley (VA), Reston (VA), and Montgomery County (PA) Chapters.

The Links have coordinated annual trips back to Jamaica for the past seven years, where they host a day full of interactive activities and lessons based on a regionally tailored STEAM/WildSTEM curriculum. 

Advancing Our Joint Vision for Diversity in Environmental Careers

Our WildSTEM partnership, at its core, is a community-oriented program led by many of the wonderful women of The Links, that leans into service learning through local projects and that strengthens pipelines into STEM and green careers for Black and brown youth, while adding Certified Wildlife Habitat gardens where people live, serve, learn, play, and worship. 

The curriculum provided by the National Wildlife Federation, along with the diverse network of The Links, Incorporated members and partners, makes this partnership one of a kind. Dozens of gardens have been established across the globe, and thousands of budding environmental leaders have been reached through our programming. From Pre-K through to higher education, we have a presence in fostering young talent and mentoring students during every phase of their journey to becoming environmental stewards. 

The National Wildlife Federation is proud to collaborate with The Links, Incorporated, in our joint mission to advance equity and diversity in the environmental field by investing in Black and brown youth. As we enter the 7th year of this partnership, we remain steadfast in these commitments.  

Since 1998, the Community Wildlife Habitat program has been preparing individuals, volunteers, community groups, and local governments across the country to think globally and act locally through tailored programming.

Our national network of community partners has been proving for almost 30 years that healthy habitats and healthy communities go hand in hand. Investing in sustainable initiatives and advancing environmental projects right where you live, work, play, and worship can truly make a difference for your local community, the next generation, and the many pollinators and other wildlife that call your community home. 

Communities across the country are proving that thinking globally and acting locally makes a difference. 

The Community Wildlife Habitat program partners with cities, towns, counties, neighborhoods, and communities of all kinds to become healthier, sustainable, and more wildlife-friendly. Community Wildlife Habitat teams work to engage the community through workshops and community events that educate residents about sustainable gardening practices and encourage residents to be advocates for wildlife and sustainability.

By reaching habitat certification requirements through Certified Wildlife Habitats® and Schoolyard Habitats®, this program helps create pockets of habitat that connect individual properties to other and larger habitats, including parks, urban forests, and more.

There are nearly 380 community wildlife habitats across the nation. Of them, 197 have registered and are working towards certification, and 182 communities have reached certification and work to recertify on an annual basis. 

Through programs like Community Wildlife Habitat, individuals don’t have to carry the responsibility of organizing local projects to better their community alone, and they don’t have to start from scratch. We hope these stories remind you of all the ways, small and big, that we can all show up for our communities. 

3 Lessons Learned from our Community Wildlife Habitat Leaders

1. People Will Show Up to Create Community Habitats

Valley Ranch is an HOA/neighborhood in Texas that gained certification as a Community Wildlife Habitat in 2024. To achieve their local environmental goals, the team successfully converted a 4-acre parcel of land along the Trinity River Elm Fork spillway from Bermuda grass to a native wildflower and grass prairie. Volunteers logged over 400 hours in the first 3 years.

2. Healthy Habitats and Healthy Communities Go Hand in Hand

Montclair, NJ, reached certification as a Community Wildlife Habitat 16 years ago and was the first community in the state to do so. One of the team leaders, Jose German Gomez, serves on the Montclair Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and also runs the Northeast Earth Coalition (NEEC), an urban farming and environmental advocacy group in the tri-state area.

Through NEEC, German-Gomez runs a “Little Free Pantry” program that provides shelf-stable groceries to food-insecure families across Montclair and other communities. NEEC is the creator and host of the “Acting Locally for a More Sustainable World Conference,” hosted at Montclair State University, where attendees are encouraged to join Community Wildlife Habitat efforts. 

With the support of dedicated volunteers and other team leaders, the team runs eight community gardens across Montclair and neighboring communities.

In 2023, Montclair’s Pine Street garden supplied the local soup kitchen with more than 1,450 pounds of fresh produce. These efforts showcase that showing up for our community members and supporting a sustainable, vibrant environment doesn’t need to be mutually exclusive.

In 2022, following ongoing and collective efforts to increase local green space through Community Wildlife Habitat, the town council officially passed the Jose German-Gomez Native Species Act that requires 70 percent of all plants and trees planted on town property to be native to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States. 

Wilmington, NC, reached certification in 2024. Their effort is led by the Gardening for Wildlife committee of the Cape Fear Garden Club, with support from the Lower Cape Fear Wildlife Chapter of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. In March 2024, community volunteers came together on North Carolina Arbor Day to plant native trees like the Brandywine Red Maple, Serviceberry, and River Birch at Eden Village.

Eden Village is a community designed to support chronically unhoused individuals. This project showcases how community members can come together on something positive and that they build relationships through shared volunteer opportunities, planting events, and community science projects.

3. Your Work Can and Will Inspire Others

Elm Grove, WI, reached certification in 2023. That same year, the Elm Grove community habitat team hosted a meeting in Brookfield, WI, to connect with individuals interested in bringing Community Wildlife Habitat to their community. This effort evolved into a first-of-its-kind “Tag, You’re It!” program, and as of 2025, they have worked to get six other communities to join the Community Wildlife Habitat program in the state of Wisconsin.

New Berlin, Pewaukee, Brookfield, Greenfield, Wauwatosa, and Menomonee Falls have all registered in the program and are working on crafting goals to reach certification. Local nonprofit, Waukesha County Green Team, brings together these Community Habitat teams every other month to network and collaborate on efforts to help gain certification. They are on the path to making Waukesha County the first county in the state of Wisconsin to be certified!!

In 2023, four counties in Northwest Indiana—Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke—reached certification in our program, working together to make them the first multi-county region to do so. Team leads are active in mentoring neighboring communities as they go through the certification process. They continue to inspire Indiana residents by participating in NWF’s Affiliate, the Indiana Wildlife Federation’s annual conference. 

Our network demonstrates how passionate, driven, and organized individuals are the bedrock of our national network. These leaders are stepping up to meet goals around sustainability, food access, and restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat, especially for birds and pollinators.

Any individual can take meaningful action where they live, learn, play, and worship.

If you are overwhelmed by the challenges facing people and our planet, you are not alone, and you don’t have to act alone. Our national network proves that community-driven conservation has the capacity to address systemic issues and can help build meaningful community bonds and partnerships along the way. 

Through programs like Community Wildlife Habitat, any individual or community can gain the tools needed to address local environmental issues like biodiversity loss, urban heat islands, flooding, or food deserts. Think global, act local. Consider starting your own Community Habitat Team today!

But long after winter storms pass, that salt persists and does harm to harm wildlife, water, and even our gardens. Once the ice melts, salts wash into nearby soil, storm drains, streams, and lakes, where it can linger for years. The good news? Keeping people safe in winter doesn’t have to come at nature’s expense!

Use calcium and magnesium chloride-based deicers rather than rock salt (sodium chloride). In warmer temperatures, consider using acetate-based or glycol/urea-based deicers to avoid salt altogether.

Why Road Salts Don’t Stay on Roads

Each winter, up to a 32 million tons of salt are spread across roads, sidewalks, and parking lots in the U.S.—more than the total biomass of land mammals on Earth—to melt ice. And because salt dissolves easily, it moves wherever water flows. Meltwater carries it into storm drains, roadside soils, groundwater, and nearby streams and lakes.

Salt doesn’t break down over time; it can persist in soil and groundwater for decades, slowly seeping into waterways year-round. As a result, some urban streams now reach salt levels comparable to seawater after winter storms!

Impact of Road Salts on Plants and Habitat

Traditional road salt (sodium chloride) degrades the habitats animals rely on. When salt dissolves, sodium and chloride ions move into nearby soils, lawns, and garden beds. Too much sodium destroys soil structure and forms dense, crusted, or even impenetrable layers by replacing essential soil nutrients like calcium and potassium. Meanwhile, chloride interferes with photosynthesis and causes the familiar browning known as “salt burn.”

Over-salted water can also be disastrous for freshwater habitats by causing toxic algae blooms. When salt levels rise, they can quietly reshape how lakes function. Extra chloride changes how water layers stack and mix, slowing the natural circulation that helps move nutrients through the lake. As a result, nutrients become trapped near the surface where harmful algae can consume it and proliferate, smothering the ecosystem below.

How Road Salts Harm Wildlife

Freshwater ecosystems are not built to handle salt. Fish, amphibians, freshwater mussels, and aquatic insects evolved in low-salt environments, and even small increases in chloride can interfere with a freshwater species’ ability to regulate fluids, breathe, and grow.

Amphibians face particular risks: frogs and salamanders absorb water directly through their skin, making them highly sensitive to salt pollution. Studies have linked road salt to developmental stress, bloating, deformities, and increased disease severityin tadpoles living near treated roads.

On land, salt creates its own dangers. Deer and other mammals are drawn to salty roadsides, which increases the risk of vehicle collisions. Birds may also ingest salt, mistaking it for grit. Moreover, salt can irritate the paws of our pets and is toxic if too much is ingested.

Which Deicers are Safest for Wildlife?

Not all deicers work the same way, or have the same environmental impact. Some don’t even require salt! The type of product used, how much is applied, and when it’s used can all make a big difference for nearby wildlife and waterways.

Traditional rock salt (sodium chloride) is the most familiar option, but it’s also the largest contributor to freshwater salinization. If salting is necessary for safety, it’s recommend using calcium and magnesium chloride-based deicers instead of sodium chloride. These other salts can work at lower temperatures, reduce the total amount of chloride needed, and don’t harm soil structure the way regular rock salt does.

Better yet, there are non-salt option that don’t cause any of these problems, such as calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) and glycol/urea-based deicers. However, these can be expensive and are usually limited to warmer freezing temperatures.

Any deicer comes with tradeoffs; even non-melting options like sand avoid chemical pollution but can create sediment problems if overused! Check out our cheat sheet below to compare common deicers types and when they might be most appropriately used. Before choosing a deicer brand, be sure to see what chemicals are in the mix!

Smart Salting Practices That Protect Wildlife

Protecting wildlife in winter starts with using less salt overall. Many icy surfaces can be managed safely with thoughtful timing and targeted action.

 Avoid Salt Completely

• Shovel early and often: Removing snow before it gets packed into ice can eliminate the need for salt entirely.
• Use Traction Options: Use rough particles such as sand, gravel or kitty litter to create traction on ice instead of melting it—just be sure to clean it up!
• Use Non-salt Options: At more moderate cold temperatures, use calcium-magnesium chloride acetate (CMA) or glycol/urea-based deicers to melt ice without worrying about the effects of salt.

Reduce the Amount of Salt Used

• Less is more: About one coffee mug of salt (roughly one cup) can treat ~250 square feet.
• Target trouble spots: Focus only on steps, slopes, and shaded areas instead of salting entire surfaces.

Plan Ahead

• Watch temperatures: Don’t salt below effective ranges (~15 °F for sodium chloride, ~-25 °F for magnesium and calcium chloride). CMA is not effective below 20 °F. Use traction options if temperatures drop below -30 °F.
• Anti-ice with a brine solution: Apply liquid brine before storms to prevent ice from bonding to pavement. You can make brine by dissolving calcium or magnesium chloride salt in warm water (about 1 pound of salt per gallon of water makes ~20% brine). Fill a garden sprayer or watering can and pre-treat target areas before a storm. This can cut salt use by up to 75%.

 Protect Gardens and Plantlife

• Keep Salt Away from Roots: Create buffers and avoid piling salted snow onto plants. Be cautious in late winter when buds emerge.
• Wash It Out: Rinse salt spray from shrubs when temperatures allow. Flush soils in spring and restore nutrients with compost. Remove any sediment used for traction.
• Plant Smart: Choose salt-tolerant plants near road or pathway edges.

Safer Winters, Healthier Ecosystems

Winter safety and wildlife protection don’t have to be at odds. By using deicers more thoughtfully (and only when they’re truly needed) we can reduce salt pollution while still keeping sidewalks, driveways, and roads safe for people and pets.

Small changes, like shoveling earlier, applying less salt, or choosing smarter alternatives, add up across neighborhoods and communities. When we treat winter storms with care, we protect not just our footing, but the streams, soils, plants, and wildlife that surround us long after the snow has melted.