The National Wildlife Federation actively engages with a broad range of partners, individuals, businesses, schools, communities, religious institutions, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and more. NWF works with key partners to provide leadership in collaboratives and grow outreach to expand and restore critical habitat on the ground.
Explore our recent partners we would like to spotlight and those with which we have ongoing conservation partnerships.
Dr. Doug Tallamy
Dr. Doug Tallamy is the T.A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He has also been awarded National Wildlife Federation’s Conservation Leadership Award. A renowned expert in the science of plant-insect interactions, Dr. Tallamy’s research is the foundation of the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder and Keystone Plant Lists. He is passionate about helping people create wildlife habitat in their own backyards and gardens.
In addition to his many scientific publications, Doug has written Natures Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard; Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants; and co-authored The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden.
Dr. Tallamy is the co-founder of Homegrown National Park, which is also a collaborator with National Wildlife Federation.
Since the early 2000s, Wild Birds Unlimited stores have promoted our Certified Wildlife Habitat® program and many have created habitats on their own properties. In 2020, WBU became our official national Habitat Champion Partner and we continue to grow our partnership.
Since 2016, 27 affiliate organizations have entered into a formal MOU partnership to promote Certified Wildlife Habitat® and advance native plant movement in their states.
Since 2018, the National Wildlife Federation and The Links, Incorporated have been working together to engage youth and community members to restore and enhance wildlife habitat where they live and learn, play and/or worship through Garden for Wildlife™ activities, conservation, and WildSTEM. The partnership also advocates for conservation, environmental justice, and climate change policies beneficial to wildlife and people. Chapters have access to specific resources tailored to this partnership.
Taylor Morrison furthers its exclusive partnership with the National Wildlife Federation by promoting biodiversity in communities and safeguarding natural open spaces.
For over 50 years the National Wildlife Federation has inspired Americans to garden for wildlife with its Garden for Wildlife® program. In 2021, the National Wildlife Federation proudly introduced the Garden for Wildlife, Inc., a new enterprise distinct from NWF but with a shared commitment to mission. The vision behind that enterprise was clear: to make native plants accessible to more people, furthering our conservation mission while also generating additional revenues to support our cause. You can visit Garden For Wildlife Inc. and see its native plant offerings here.
In 2021, NWF piloted an e-commerce platform to make it easier for consumers to find native plants for their own home and deliver them right to their doorstep. Based on the success of the platform, in September of 2023, NWF spun out this platform as Garden for Wildlife, Inc. an independent for-profit company, distinct from NWF but with a shared commitment to its mission. The vision behind this new company was clear: to make native plants accessible to more people, furthering our conservation mission while also generating additional revenues to support our cause.
National Wildlife Federation is a partner and sponsor with Applied Ecology in their National Native Seed Conference.
Since 2019, the National Wildlife Federation has commissioned an annual survey in partnership with the National Gardening Association to track whether more people are gardening for wildlife by purchasing native plants and landscaping that help pollinators like at-risk butterflies, bees, and birds. Check out the results in Sustainable Gardening Trends.
The National Wildlife Federation and the Xerces Society partner in several projects together related to monarch and pollinator conservation. One such project resulted in regional monarch-specific nectar plant guides for the continental United States. This partnership, led by the Xerces Society with the National Wildlife Federation, is based on monarch nectar observations compiled from numerous resources including published and technical reports, research datasets, and personal communications with monarch researchers, botanists, and other experts.
The National Wildlife Federation has decades-long partnerships with many of the zoos and aquariums that make up the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) network. Over 50 accredited zoos and aquariums are registered as Certified Wildlife Habitats®. In 2018, the National Wildlife Federation renewed this relationship through a formal agreement that affirms our common goals of restoring healthy fish and wildlife populations, conserving native habitats, and engaging the public in these efforts.
Thousands of garden club members have Certified Wildlife Habitats® and these organizations are an important part of this movement:
The Smithsonian Institution is collecting stories about gardens, green spaces, and gardening history. Community of Gardens is the Smithsonian’s digital home for preserving stories of gardens and the gardeners who make them grow. The National Wildlife Federation encourages its wildlife gardeners to contribute anecdotes about their habitat gardens or memorable moments spent gardening for wildlife. Share your stories. Smithsonian Gardens on the National Mall is a Certified Wildlife Habitat®.
The partnership between the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has served as a catalyst for national collaboration on monarch butterfly conservation, particularly in planting native milkweed and nectar plants, the primary food sources in breeding and migration habitats for the butterfly.
The U.S Forest Service funded the launch of the Native Plant Finder and has been a long time collaborator on pollinator and monarch conservation.
The State Department supported the potential for department-owned properties with pollinator/native plant gardens to be recognized as a wildlife habitat. Thirty-nine embassies, consulates, missions, and ambassador’s residences have already received Certified Wildlife Habitat® designation.
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