We are so excited to announce that as of May 2021, we are officially a Certified Backyard Habitat by the Portland Audobon Society! 🥂 🐝🦉🌿
Our journey started a year prior with the consultation and a self-determined deep dive into pnw plant education. Since then we made substantial changes to our backyard space, removed the lawn, planted literally hundreds of natives, added sustainable habitats for pollinators and more. We are so proud of all the work we've accomplished, but more thrilled to add a safe space to this planet for the bees/birds/bugs/critters that share our slice of Oregon.
There are 3 levels of certification: Silver, Gold and Platinum. We achieved Gold for this certification, but our native areas are nearing the 50% needed for Platinum, so we're gonna keep at it and hope to recertify next year. Yay, Oregarden! You did it!
Our garden is working toward Platinum level certification, top-tier. Which means:
Platinum Invasive Species: Remove all three levels of aggressive weeds
Native Plants: Naturescape > 50% of property with locally native plants in all 5 vegetation layers
Pesticide Reduction: No use of red or yellow zone chemicals, always use IPM strategy, take metro no pesticides pledge
Wildlife Stewardship: i.e. cats kept inside or in outdoor enclosures 100% of time, wildlife water feature, bird/bat nest boxes, pollinator habitat, nurse logs, outdoor lights off during migration, native pollinator meadow
Stormwater Management: i.e. large canopy tree over 30ft, remove impervious surfaces and/or grass more than 500ft, increase naturescaping to 10% higher than your certification level requirement, restore soils leave the leaves, eliminate lawn irrigation, adopt eco-friendly maintenance practices
Education and Volunteerism
Vegetation Layers:
Ground layer
Small/Medium shrub layer (<5ft)
Large shrub layer (5-20ft)
Understory tree canopy (<30ft)
Overstory tree canopy (>30ft)