Reading Room [Landscape Change/Landscape Loss]

Create Wildlife Habitat
On the Living Edge: Your Handbook for Waterfront Living (2003)

by Sarah Kipp and Clive Callaway

Clive Callaway, M.E.Des., is a planner, educator, and waterfront resident. He is a co-founder of The Living by Water Project, a national partnership initiative working "towards healthier human and wildlife habitat along the shorelines of Canada". Since project founding 1997, Clive and his partner Sarah Kipp have developed a wide variety of products and services to support both shoreline residents and organizations who deal with shoreline conservation. Their innovative and user-friendly book "On the Living Edge: Your Handbook for Waterfront Living" is now available in four regional editions.

Since founding The Living by Water Project in 1997, Clive and his partner Sarah Kipp have developed a wide variety of products and services to support both shoreline residents and organizations who deal with shoreline conservation. Their innovative and user-friendly book "On the Living Edge: Your Handbook for Waterfront Living" is now available in four regional editions.

For the avid putterer, there are many opportunities to create homes for wildlife – and many good reasons to do it. Most of us who live beside water enjoy watching birds and listening to their songs. Gardeners benefit from the fact that birds consume many pests that bother their plants. The fish visit more often when our shorelines are friendly to insects, and lots of fish make happy fishermen! And children are irresistibly drawn to the abundance of life on the shoreline.

Provide a variety of features

You can encourage a diversity of wildlife even if you have only a small space, abut you will need to provide a range of habitat features.

Encourage a diversity of vegetation and mix features like evergreen and deciduous, young and old, tall and short.
Layer your plants so that the tallest trees are at the edges of your property and drop in size towards your house.
If your space is restricted, consider planting a clump of trees surrounded by smaller shrubs.
Create a thicket made up of a small tree surrounded by thick, bushy shrubs. Even in a small area, the different layers and types of vegetation create edges that house an abundance of wildlife.
Remember, irregular or rounded edges are preferable to straight lines!

Create corridors

Corridors provide safe travel paths for wildlife.
Connect already existing natural areas by planting between them.
Allow native vegetation to grow along fence lines or property lines, and use these are corridors to help connect natural areas, or to connect your shoreline area with upland wild areas.
Work with your neighbours to help create corridors between properties.

Protect dead and downed trees

When trees fall in or along the water, they help protect shorelines and streambanks from erosion. Having a few dead and dying trees along a shoreline is normal and healthy, yet our urban desire to have things look tidy and "nice" makes us want to remove them as soon as they start to lose branches and look diseased.

Decaying or standing dead trees are also wildlife havens, used by mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects as places for a range of activities. As they break down, the trees gradually return nutrients to the soil; in the water, they create pools and provide sources of food for fish and other wildlife.

Allow a standing dead tree to remain.
If you are in an urban area, consider making it a feature, with a variety of dense shrubbery around it.
If you are concerned about safety, rather than felling a tree that is dying or dead, have it trimmed by a tree pruning specialist to a height of 4-3 m (10-13 ft), keeping some branches for perching. You can monitor it for safety over the years.
When trees fall, let them be. Fallen trees across creeks rarely cause debris jams and flooding.
If you believe a tree that has fallen in the water presents a safety hazard for boaters or swimmers, contact Saskatchewan Environment or Manitoba Conservation. It may be possible for you to do some trimming and at the same time leave the framework of the tree in place.

Build a wildlife shelter

Instead of hauling branches away, or burning them, pile them in the style of a beaver lodge to provide an instant wildlife sanctuary. You can use extra firewood, rocks or any other natural material you happen to have around to create shelter for birds, small mammals and reptiles. Placed near a favourite feeding are, your shelter will provide safety from predators and a place to get away from the wind.

You may need to add to the pile as it shrinks over time. Using rocks or logs as a solid foundation will slow the natural decomposition process.
Leave the pile undisturbed between early spring and early fall when birds may be nesting or using the pile as a safe place to raise their young.
To provide hiding spots amongst the logs, place clay flower pots on their sides or use bricks, rocks, or clay drain tiles. Cover the area with leaves and small twigs and disturb as little as possible.
Both sunbathing reptiles and amphibians enjoy rock piles and dry stone walls (especially if located near water).
Designing and creating shelters is an ideal project for children to be involved in. And you can show it off to neighbours and visitors when it's finished!

Build a nest box

When spring approaches, cavity-nesting birds often struggle to find enough places to lay their eggs, particularly in residential areas, where natural habitat is hard to find.

You can help compensate for this loss by offering nest boxes for the birds native to your area. As your shoreline planting grown, these nest boxes will become less necessary. See Appendix 1.
You may need to install a protective device on your nest box to limit access by cats and other predators.
Also consider constructing bat houses for insect-eating bats. See Chapter 11.

While nest boxes are helpful for wildlife, encouraging the real thing is better! In your efforts to aid wildlife, a good first step is to preserve and enhance the features on your land that already provide natural nesting sites.

Wildlife habitat projects at the water

Water-based projects protect shorelines and create wildlife habitat are feasible, but require approvals from Saskatchewan Environment or Manitoba Conservation and DFO. Projects such as planting cattails and bulrushes, or placing logs in streams, help repair degraded habitat. They also help to "soften" your shoreline and prevent erosion on your property. Check with shoreline stabilization or erosion experts or get in touch with a local stream or shoreline stewardship group. They can tell you what is possible and desirable for your shoreline.

Kipp, Sarah and Callaway, Clive. "Create Wildlife Habitat" Previously Published as Chapter 7, Part 6 in On the Living Edge: Your Handbook for Waterfront Living. Regina, Saskatchewan: Nature Saskatchewan, 2003.

LANDSCAPE CHANGE: LANDSCAPE LOSS