Considering the Challenges of Implementing a Backyard Wildlife Habitat

What needs to be considered when pilot testing, evaluating, and calculating the return on investment for the backyard wildlife habitat behavior change program? Inspiring the behavior change for residents to create backyard wildlife habitats was inspired by the perpetual development and urban sprawl that increasingly imperils biodiversity and ecosystems. My motivation was driven by the development in my own desert community in which a previously undisturbed canyon was sold off to three homebuilders, wiping out nature’s terrain as we knew it.

There will be an indeterminate-sized portion of the local community population that is interested in the environment, habitat conservation, wildlife protections, etc., and some of who may already to certain degrees implemented a biodiversity landscape within their property. And there is another segment that is pro-development and could not care less about green space or species beyond the human. Critical to the pilot will be having a collection of the former and learning what specific backyard wildlife implementations interest them and how far they may be willing to go, e.g., water-conserving xeriscape plantings only, or perhaps additional add-ons such as rain-collection barrels, compost bins, and food/water/cover for wildlife. The challenge will be to really drive the social modeling behavior by garnering enthusiastic full participation that could then hopefully be leveraged through social dissonance that culminates in a community social norm. Because a full-fledged backyard wildlife habitat can be certified through the National Wildlife Federation, that incentive can hopefully help energize all-out participation.

A challenge that I see at this early stage might include determining to what level participants (and the program) will see an ROI by incorporating drought-tolerant plantings, particularly if a residence purchases only a couple/few xeriscape plants to replace water-thirsty plants, which makes seeing a difference on a water bill more challenging. What then becomes the economic value of that behavior? In addition, if we simply want to provide food, water, and shelter for wildlife, how do we count the numbers/frequency of bees, hummingbirds, doves, rabbits, coyotes, javelina, etc., and how do we put a price on conservation and the idyllic pleasures that nature provides?

These questions and more are important when considering a behavior change program and working toward a successful project encompassing backyard wildlife habitat participation.

(Written by Don Scott for a Sustainability & Behavior Change discussion group.)