• How can I certify my neighborhood?
• How should we identify our community boundaries?
• How can a developer get involved?
• With no school, how can we meet the requirements?
• How many certified sites must we have?
• What is the project notebook?
• What will we need to budget for?

Can my neighborhood become certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat?

Although communities larger than individual neighborhoods have a greater chance of project success, a large neighborhood can become certified if the Habitat Team has a good base of community support. The Community Wildlife Habitat project is aimed to mobilize and educate a large group of people and requires the participation of businesses, schools and government agencies.

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How should we identify our community boundaries?

You can identify your boundaries by zip code(s), town name(s), or county. You also need to keep in mind what demographic information is available, since you will need those population numbers in order to decide how many points you need to accrue for certification.

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I am a developer and would like to design a new community that will be a Community Wildlife Habitat. How can I do this?

We work with communities of citizens to help them improve their own yards and common areas for wildlife, to educate their neighbors about wildlife, and to coordinate on the ground projects. By default, this means that our CWH certification is not designed to be a developer recognition or approval.

While some planned communities have found success in the Community Wildlife Habitat project, these communities are large, and contain schools and businesses within them. In addition, they have the continued dedicated support of the residents who live there. The Community Wildlife Habitat certification process takes from two to five years, and requires support and guidance from a dedicated team who facilitate educational outreach and community-wide events. While a member of the development team may play a role in the group of individuals leading the effort, there also needs to be residents, businesses and government officials on the team as well. The developer is encouraged to certify "model" homes or natural areas/parks within the development as Certified Wildlife Habitat sites.

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There is no school in my community, how can we meet the schoolyard certification requirements?

Often, if there are no schools in your community project area, you may need to expand the size of your community. You should also look to the schools that the children in your community attend even though it is not within your community's "boundaries."

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How many certified sites must we have in our community to complete the certification requirements?

Each community will need to earn a certain number of points in four categories to officially achieve certification: Habitat Certification, Education, Community Projects, and Administrative Goals. We have provided many types of activities so communities can create an individualized plan that is best for them.

To learn more about this points-based system, review the certification points tables.

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What is the project notebook?

The project notebook is a binder or scrapbook where you keep documentation of the various projects. Examples of things to include in the project notebook include clippings from newspaper or magazine articles about the project, the kick-off event flyer, workshop or presentation flyers, photos from community events, etc. When you are ready to be certified you can print the goals matrix and put it in the notebook (along with accompanying documentation when appropriate) to show which points you have accumulated.

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What will we need to budget for?

You should budget for printing costs of flyers, brochures about your project, native plant lists, etc. You may need to budget for supplies required when holding workshops (besides the brochures and tip sheets that NWF can supply). You should also budget for your certification ceremony including food, paper goods, etc. If you would like an NWF representative to come from headquarters you will need to budget for their trip. It may be possible, however, for someone from our field offices or state affiliates to attend at no cost to your community.

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