Florida Yards & Neighborhoods 
A Wildlife Sanctuary in Your Yard
By Ed Ayen, Florida Yards & Neighborhoods
This is another in a series of articles written about the new area urban conservation program called Florida Yards & Neighborhoods.
Florida has the third most diverse wildlife population of any state; especially here in the south central area. But rapidly growing urban development is destroying native wildlife habitat. Your Florida-Friendly yard can provide habitat for displaced wildlife. As you create a new landscape or improve your existing one, add a few features for wildlife, and you will bring your yard to life with birds, butterflies and beneficial insects. Food, water and cover attract wildlife, but you also need to maintain your yard so the impact it has on the environment is minimal.
To lure wildlife to your yard provide food in the form of plants that bear seed, fruit foliage or flowers that you are willing to have eaten by birds, butterflies and caterpillars.
Running water or a birdbath will also attract wildlife to your yard. Be sure to empty and clean your birdbath every few days to prevent mosquito breeding and bacterial contamination.
To attract birds, design planted areas that include a tree canopy, with shrubs, grasses and flowers underneath. To help draw birds, allow the grasses and flowers to go to seed on occasion. If allowed and not a hazard, leave dead trees in place. Many birds use snags for perching, nesting and feeding.
Butterflies require both larval and nectar plants to live in your yard. To acquire a complete list of suitable plants contact the Master Gardener office at your local county extension office.
Remember to manage your pets. If you permit pets to harass wildlife, you will only frustrate any effort you make toward attracting wildlife.
Apply insecticides responsibly. Each time you apply an insecticide to your yard, you reduce insect population, which form an important food source for birds. You also may be killing butterflies and their larvae.
Reduce the mowed lawn areas around your house. By trading turf for diverse plant species you will create shelter and food for many animal species.
For more information on wildlife in Florida and help in creating a wild-life friendly landscape, visit the Florida Wildlife Extension website.
The Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program is being implemented through your local county extension service in Highlands, Okeechobee and Glades County and is partially funded from Clean Water Act Section 319 funding from the U. S. EPA through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Ed Ayen is available to address interested groups such as homeowners associations, voluntary organizations and clubs. For further information he can be reached by calling the Highlands County Extension Service office. Phone: (863)402-6540 or email. Location is 4509 George Blvd., Sebring, FL 33875-5837