As we enter the 21st century, natural places - and the plants and animals that inhabit them - face ever-increasing pressure from human activity. Few places left on Earth have not been affected in some way by our actions. As a result, habitat loss is the number-one threat to wildlife today.

The way we choose to manage the land under our care has had major effects on wildlife habitat. By the middle of the last century, human population booms and economic prosperity led to the spread of suburban development into once rural or wild areas. At the same time that the trend in landscaping began to favor close-cropped lawns, exotic ornamental specimen plants, and a desire for neatness and uniformity, new chemical fertilizers and pesticides were rapidly becoming available that made an insect-free, perpetually green yard an obtainable goal.

By choosing what has now come to be known as "conventional" landscaping options - ones dominated by lawn, ornamental plants, and dependence on chemicals and supplemental watering - we have disturbed the balance of the ecosystem and banished the wildlife from the land we once shared. The continued conversion of natural areas into such landscapes has resulted in drastic reduction of habitat and the disappearance of many species of wildlife.

We can, however, choose to create landscapes that help restore the ecological balance. We can choose to invite the wild plants and animals back into the land and our lives. To demonstrate this, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) ran an article in the April 1973 issue of National Wildlife magazine encouraging people to landscape and garden in a more sustainable, natural way, with wildlife in mind. Response to the article was so overwhelming that NWF began the Backyard Wildlife Habitat program that same year to educate people about the benefits, for both people and wildlife, of creating and restoring natural landscapes. Since that time, the practice of natural landscaping has grown in popularity.

Through the Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, you will learn how to restore wildlife habitat in your own yard, balcony, workplace or even your entire community. Once you create your habitat, you can submit an application and get your yard certified as one of tens of thousands of official National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat sites around the country and the world.

Once certified, you will receive a handsome certificate, suitable for framing, that designates your property as part of the National Wildlife Federation's national registry of habitat sites. You will also be eligible to display an attractive yard sign for display in your habitat. Participation in the Backyard Wildlife Habitat program will help you save a place for wildlife right in your own backyard and community, while opening your eyes to the natural world around you, to be nourished by its wonders.