Spring 2001 Table of Contents

Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary benefits beyond wildlife

You probably started your Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) hoping to help the bees, birds, and other wildlife in your area. But if you haven’t taken stock lately, consider the other benefits your sanctuary brings you....

• Aesthetics is probably the greatest bonus. Wildlife adds color, movement, and variation in your landscape, unlike anything you could plant or buy. You can escape the pressures of daily living by feasting your eyes on swallowtails flittering around monarda or a frog hopping into a pond.

• Economics is another benefit. Studies show that landscaping efforts, including backyard wildlife sanctuary designs, increase property values as much as 10 percent. The uniqueness of your sanctuary may even draw potential buyers when you want to sell.

• Education is a natural in your sanctuary. Not only do the kids and grandkids learn about the basics of the natural world and wildlife in your outdoor laboratory, but you learn more every day about animal behavior, seasonal changes, and other subtleties.

• Pest control also comes naturally. Birds and bats are attracted by the “good” insects that are drawn to your native, flowering plants, but they also eat up more than their weight each day in mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and other pesky bugs.

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