“One-stop-shopping” for state and national certification

Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary certification is available from both the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the National Wildlife Federation through a special “one-stop-shopping” partnership.

You get the benefits of two habitat programs while doing the paperwork for one!

The National Wildlife Federation is a four million member non-profit organization with a mission to “inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.”

The Federation offers certification of yards and gardens across the country as “Backyard Wildlife Habitat” sites, much the same as WDFW does with the BWS program.

Here’s the way the partnership program works: Application for certification through the Federation costs $15, which includes a certificate, yard sign, subscription to a quarterly newsletter, and automatic Federation membership and a year’s subscription to “National Wildlife” magazine. For an additional $5, enrollees from Washington state are also enrolled in our BWS program, and receive the new yard sign pictured here and e-mail subscription to this “Crossing Paths” quarterly newsletter.

The partnership is a pilot that may be extended permanently and include other states, depending on the number of enrollments.

If you’re not already enrolled in Washington’s BWS program or the Federation’s program, see https://secure.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/certify/page1.cfm and click the partners link.