The lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasuae yerbabuenae) feeds exclusively on the fruit and nectar of agave and night-blooming cacti such as saguaro and organpipe, pollinating flowers in the process. Photo Courtesy of Bruce Taubert.

Authors: Sophia Ruger, ASU Undergraduate Student Researcher, and Kelli L. Larson, Professor of Geography and Sustainability at ASU, with input from Andrew Trgovac.

Sophia Ruger is completing her Sustainability degree and a certificate in Geographic Information Science. She hopes to provide applicable solutions for significant environmental and health-related issues in cities across the globe. If she’s not busy at school, she is out rock climbing, wakeboarding, or sewing at home. She is searching for internships or professional experiences, so feel free to connect with her through LinkedIn.

Kelli Larson is a Professor at Arizona State University who moved to the Sonoran Desert in 2005 and regularly engages students in her research. Her work focuses on how people interact with nature and manage urban landscapes and the environment. When she is not working, Kelli practices yoga and loves to hike, paddle, and otherwise explore nature and different places throughout Arizona and elsewhere. She also enjoys spending time with her dogs, going to plays, and cooking. You can learn more about Kelli or contact her through ASU.

The story begins in 1972 when the first wildlife habitat in Arizona was certified in Prescott on August 21st. This was the year before the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) officially launched their wildlife gardening program. Since then, thousands of properties have been certified statewide, although the frequency of certifications remained low until the 2000s. When our team at Arizona State University started analyzing data on certified wildlife gardens from the NWF in May 2024, over 4,000 properties—including residential yards and other types of properties—had been certified in Arizona to provide shelter, food, water, and places for wildlife to raise their young. 

The Arizona Wildlife Federation (AWF) is one of the 26 state affiliates active in promoting gardening for wildlife through the Certified Wildlife Habitat® program. Our team is collaborating with both AWF and NWF to understand: how and why have wildlife-certified gardens expanded over time, and who and where are these gardeners? 

As seen in the chart below, the years 2006 and 2023 saw the most certifications in the state, with a peak of 296 in 2023 alone. Mary Phillips, who leads the national Garden for Wildlife/Certified Wildlife Habitat® program, explains: “The national program celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2023, and both AWF and NWF received high levels of media attention and engaged in outreach that year, resulting in more awareness and certification applications.” Although we do not yet know what caused the peaks prior to 2015, when Mary started working with NWF, we are exploring the factors underlying the rise and decline of wildlife-certified gardens over time. The mortgage crisis of 2007-2010 may be one factor leading to declines since the number of certifications between 2011 and 2016 decreased dramatically. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic around 2020, we later saw a surge. Mary adds, “With people at home, gardening, and sustainable practices surged nationwide as they were inspired to do something positive that generated visible increases in butterflies, birds, and bees to support and enjoy where they live. In Arizona, the use of drought-tolerant native plants is an added appeal to residents in their quest to conserve water and support AZ wildlife.”   

Just as we see temporal patterns in the rise and fall of certified habitats in the state, interesting geographic patterns are also evident in the data. Across 190 cities and towns in Arizona with at least one or more certified properties, the top 20 (highlighted in the map below) contain 72% of the total (at around 3000 habitats), and the top 10 contain 50% of the certified habitats in the state.

Larger circles represent more community gardens per resident.

With 976 gardens, Tucson contains the most (23%) Certified Wildlife Habitat® in the state; this translates into approximately 18 gardens for every 10,000 residents in Tucson. Coming in second, Phoenix — as the largest city in the state — has 11% (470), which amounts to fewer than 3 gardens per 10,000 residents. Along with these large cities in the top 20 are other municipalities in the metro Phoenix area including Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Glendale, Chandler, and Gilbert. Other top towns are Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff to the north and Bisbee and Ajo to the south. 

It is not surprising that cities and their suburbs with some of the largest populations in the state have the most gardens, but what is happening in smaller towns like Ajo, Bisbee, Sierra Vista, and Hereford? Perhaps conservation initiatives around the San Pedro River or the birding culture in the region contribute to the cluster of garden efforts in southeastern Arizona. With further research, our team aims to identify the factors leading to certifications in particular places across the state.

Ajo and Bisbee are two small towns in Arizona with around 100 recorded habitats, which amounts to more than 1% of their residents gardening for wildlife (compared to only 0.03% in Phoenix). The high Certified Wildlife Habitat® count among these relatively small towns indicates a significant effort to provide wildlife habitat in these communities. With Bisbee’s population of 5,008 residents and 104 gardens, the town hosts two gardens per 100 residents (or 2% of the community). With Ajo’s population of 2,922 and 96 gardens, they host the highest number of gardens per capita at 3% (or three gardens for every 100 residents). 

So, why do Ajo and Bisbee have a relatively large number of Certified Wildlife Habitat® relative to their populations? One reason is that both towns have been certified through the NWF’s Community Wildlife Habitats®, which requires a certain number of habitats. This community-level program extends the gardening for wildlife effort beyond individual properties by bringing together committed gardeners to expand habitat for wildlife in their municipalities. As Keith Ashley, the Deputy Director of the Arizona Wildlife Federation explains, “When you take a close look at the data like this, you can really see the impact that a small group of changemakers like "Project Wildlife Bisbee" can have. When they decided to get their community certified, they inspired so many people to get involved with habitat creation and maintenance. Imagine what a difference it would make if we had a few Arizona communities becoming certified each year for the next few decades!”

Finally, we are exploring: who are the people behind Certified Wildlife Habitat®? Specifically, based on the data we have available from NWF (as shown in the pie chart below), which landowners are certifying their properties as wildlife habitat across the state? Mostly, so far, they are residents like you. That is, more than 90% of all habitats certified since 1972 (3,448 total) were established by residents at their homes, and 40 additional habitats are located in community gardens.   

Among the other 7% of non-residential habitats (227; see the pie chart below), 34% are located in schoolyards (represented by teal), especially at K-12 institutions. Certified Wildlife Habitat® at schoolyards makes good sense because many people visit schoolyards, and these habitat gardens can be educational for students learning biology and other subjects. Additional habitats are managed by private entities (in yellow) including farms (23% of non-residential property) and churches (18%) are the next most common types of property. Relatively few certified habitats are on other types of properties, as shown in the graph. 

In moving forward with our research, our ASU-based team hopes to better understand the reasons for designing and maintaining Certified Wildlife Habitat® in residential yards and other types of property. By identifying barriers or challenges with gardening for wildlife, moreover, we can provide information and other resources to overcome them. By doing so, we hope to expand wildlife habitat across Arizona and the U.S. in collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation and our state chapter. As we learn more, this information could help NWF and AWF, among other organizations, to support habitat gardeners. Based on previous research, we know that certified habitats make a real difference by increasing biodiversity by hosting a larger variety of vegetation and bird species. 

To get certified or learn more, visit https://certifiedwildlifehabitat.nwf.org/.

Learn about the biodiversity impacts of Certified Wildlife Habitat®

Read more about constraints to wildlife gardening and associated tips

Be sure to sign up for Arizona Wildlife Federation’s E-News to receive regular updates on Gardening for Wildlife in Arizona!

Meet the ASU Team

Critical to American agriculture, this non-native European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is visiting a saguaro cactus blossom. Honey bees can compete with native bees for resources, which presents complicated conservation questions. Photo Courtesy of Bruce Taubert.

Authors: Sharika Kapur, ASU Undergraduate Student Researcher, and Kelli L. Larson, Professor of Geography and Sustainability at ASU

Sharika Kapur is majoring in Sustainability with a concentration in Society and Sustainability. She aspires to leverage her education to drive positive social and ecological change. Beyond her academic pursuits, she loves to express herself creatively through painting and sculpting. She would love to connect with others passionate about environmental health. You can reach her via LinkedIn.

Kelli Larson is a Professor at Arizona State University who moved to the Sonoran Desert in 2005 and regularly engages students in her research. Her work focuses on how people interact with nature and manage urban landscapes and the environment. When she is not working, Kelli practices yoga and loves to hike, paddle, and otherwise explore nature and different places throughout Arizona and elsewhere. She also enjoys spending time with her dogs, going to plays, and cooking. You can learn more about Kelli or contact her through ASU.

The lawn-care industry has globally promoted neat, uniform, and weed-free turfgrass landscapes, often characterized by lush, hyper-green lawns. However, these lawns not only reduce biodiversity but also demand a significant amount of water to survive, particularly in semi-arid regions like Arizona. Instead of managing monocultural lawns —that is, landscapes comprising a single species of turfgrass, residents can transform their yards into habitat to support wildlife and improve biodiversity in neighborhoods. Perhaps now is the time to make your yard do more — for wildlife and you.

Research conducted at Arizona State University shows promise for people adopting yards to support local wildlife across the U.S. Several studies conducted by Kelli Larson, a Professor of geography and sustainability at ASU, reveal insights on residents’ yard preferences and priorities. Much of Larson’s research has focused on metro Phoenix, but her work also includes surveying residents across six metropolitan areas including Los Angeles, Miami, Baltimore, Boston, and Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Across these regions and elsewhere, evidence suggests that many residents are willing to support alternative yard designs, though residents face certain constraints that slow the shift towards wildlife-supporting landscapes.

In particular, Larson’s research has found that very few survey respondents maintain monocultural lawns. Although nearly all surveyed residents in the six-region study had at least some grass in their yards, less than 3% reported having no other plants. In other words, very few people maintain a lawn with a single turfgrass species. Additionally, a 2018 study of U.S. households showed that about 60% of surveyed residents have already added features to support wildlife to their yards, and approximately half planned to do so in the future (i.e., in the next 5-10 years). As shown in the graph on the right, these features include native plants, trees, and other types of vegetation (e.g., shrubs). 

Although survey data indicate great promise for expanding wildlife-supporting yards, several survey-based studies have specifically identified aesthetics and low maintenance as higher priorities than increasing plant variety and supporting wildlife (see the chart below). In the 2018 survey of residents, beauty literally tops the chart, and, related to a neat aesthetic (purple bars), people tended to prioritize weed-free yards. For this reason, yard designs must first consider people’s aesthetic preferences, which include flowering plants, the color green, and a natural look or an orderly appearance. Meanwhile, personal enjoyment and low-maintenance priorities (aqua bars) — both of which relate to leisure — were among the top three priorities.  Meanwhile, wildlife-related priorities (dark green) — including habitat provisioning and plant diversity — are less important, although they are still moderately important to residents, on average.

Overall, these results indicate that in order to expand wildlife habitat in people’s yards a, residential and other landscapes must be designed to meet aesthetic preferences and limit the time and effort involved in maintaining them — at least for a majority of people to appreciate and sustain them.  

You might be thinking: but isn’t aesthetic appeal a personal preference? Indeed, it is. As explained by Professor Larson, varying aesthetic preferences are important to understand for landscaping decisions: “What constitutes a beautiful landscape to one person may be different from another. For example, some residents prefer tidy green lawns or simple, orderly yards, while others prefer a more natural look with diverse and abundant vegetation that better supports birds, pollinators, and other wildlife.”

In the same vein, people’s lifestyles vary dramatically, which affects how much time they can or will spend maintaining their yards. While some people love to spend time gardening, most want low-maintenance yards that limit the effort required to sustain them. In fact, Larson’s research has found that individuals who garden as a hobby are more likely to maintain wildlife-supporting gardens; meanwhile, time, costs, and other maintenance factors prevent many people from maintaining yards as wildlife habitat. 

Related to landscape aesthetics, Joan Nassauer, a Professor of landscape architecture at the University of Michigan, developed and tested a theory for using “cues to care” as a way of incorporating biodiversity into urban and rural landscapes managed by people.  In doing so, much of her research has been conducted in the twin cities of Minneapolis–St. Paul and in the Detroit area. In the 1990s, Nassauer defined “cues to care” as objective landscape characteristics that recognizably communicate that people are taking care of a landscape. In many urban, suburban, and rural settings, she has demonstrated how landscape designs that include “just enough” cues to care increase acceptance of habitats that might otherwise look messy, which contradicts social norms for neat and orderly yards. 

Professor Larson recommends using Nassauer’s “cues to care” theory to tame the often-unruly appearance attributed to more “natural looking” landscapes that provide habitat to wildlife. For designing wildlife-supporting yards that people appreciate, cues-to-care tips are detailed below. Overall, the idea is that more naturalistic yards can support local wildlife and garner aesthetic appreciation by incorporating elements that people tend to view positively. Since maintenance factors are also crucial for the integration of wildlife habitat in residents’ yards, Larson further recommends that residents make strategic decisions — alongside cues to care — to minimize the time and effort required in maintaining yards. 

Maintain a clear view through intentional design elements

Maintaining a “line of sight” is one strategy that gives the appearance of an intentional, well-designed yard. This entails adequately spacing plants to ensure that windows and doors are not obscured, which signifies deliberate placement of vegetation instead of uncontrolled growth. In general, the key is having clear views of the key exterior features of the house to ensure the property doesn’t appear overgrown and abandoned. Without a clear line of sight, yards may look disorganized since diverse and abundant plants can result in various focal points that cause visual chaos.

Incorporate linear and curvy edges to enhance visual appeal

A line of sight can be further maintained by adding planter boxes and containers or pathways and curvilinear features. For example, mowing strips along sideways or walkways—along with other crisp edges and linear or curved features — tend to convey care while garnering aesthetic appreciation. Painted fences, stone walls, and other elements work with the line of sight to further add order to the yard, effectively guiding the eye across the property. 

Design for eye-catching boldness and visual structure

Bold vegetation patterns can also indicate active management of the space while amplifying the beauty of yards. This includes choosing plants with varying shades of green and an array of colorful flowers. Another tactic to achieve boldness is creating visually impactful spaces by strategically arranging plants. For instance, a mix of high and low vegetation (i.e., differently sized trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants) adds dimension to the yard, as can pots and other containers. Having this sort of “vegetation structure” in yards also supports wildlife by providing places to find shelter and rear young.

Choose your plants to avoid messiness and reduce maintenance

Strategic vegetation choices can also be important for people who appreciate tidiness and easy-to-maintain yards. For instance, people may want to consider the extent of “leaf litter” or “organic debris” of their plant options since some shed leaves, seeds, and other organic matter more so than others. For residents who prefer tidier yards that are easy to maintain, they therefore might opt for plants with low litter. Alternatively, placing plants with no or low litter near walkways or entrances can reduce messy-looking organic matter and the need for clean-up in strategic locations of yards. 

Prioritize the plant attributes that make sense for your lifestyle

Another suggestion for reducing yard maintenance is opting for slow-growing plants; while they may take longer to achieve a certain size, slower-growing vegetation doesn’t need to be pruned as often, thereby minimizing time and costs. Similarly, low water-use or climate-adapted plants — such as plants native to the ecosystem where you live — can reduce the effort required to maintain yards. Irrigating less can also slow growth, thereby lessening the time and effort needed to prune plants or trim trees. 

Add non-living habitat features to provide food, water, and shelter

Wildlife-supporting features like nest boxes, bird feeders, and bird baths are easy to incorporate and also act as yard decorations. Requiring little upkeep, these simple additions still allow residents to express their commitment to supporting native wildlife to others. Similar to planters and container boxes, these objects can also help break up vegetation and create distinct areas of the yard for a more organized look. 

Whether through plant choices or other design features, maintaining a wildlife-supporting yard is an opportunity to showcase your creativity while supporting local birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. By prioritizing elements that garner aesthetic appreciation and are easy to maintain, you can achieve your priorities (and perhaps your neighbors’ too) while helping to protect wildlife and boost biodiversity. In doing so, you can even get your yard certified as wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. You’ll even receive a sign to let people know you are managing your yard to support local wildlife, which is a definite cue-of-care! 

Learn more about certified wildlife gardens in Arizona

Find out the biodiversity impacts of certified wildlife habitats in the U.S.

Read more about Larson’s team and research

Be sure to sign up for Arizona Wildlife Federation’s E-News to receive regular updates on Gardening for Wildlife in Arizona!

Meet the ASU Team

Other links to research articles and other resources:

Larson, K.L. et al. (2009). Residents’ yard choices and rationales in a desert city: social priorities, ecological impacts, and decision tradeoffs. Environmental Management, 44: 921-937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9353-1 

Larson, K. L. et al. (2022). Examining the potential to expand wildlife-supporting residential yards and gardens. Landscape and Urban Planning, 222, 104396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104396

Nassauer, J. I. (2011). Care and stewardship:  From home to planet. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100: 321-323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.02.022.

Li, J., & Nassauer, J. I. (2020). Cues to care: A systematic analytical review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 201, 103821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103821

Cornell Lab. (2015). Tips to make a “messy” wildlife garden look good. All About Birds. Cornell Lab. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/tips-to-make-a-wildlife-garden-look-great/#. Last accessed August 2, 2024.

The rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) migrates as far as 3,900 miles (one way!) and requires nectar at every stop on its journey. While non-native thistles can be invasive, at least 13 species are native to Arizona and an important food source for pollinators. Photo Courtesy of Bruce Taubert.

Author: Alexandra (Lexi) Cegielski, ASU Undergraduate Student and Researcher

Lexi Cegielski is an undergraduate student at Arizona State University majoring in Sustainability and Urban Planning. She is passionate about creating sustainable cities and preserving wildlife. Growing up in Arizona, Lexi spends her free time enjoying the outdoors with friends and family. In her spare time, she loves baking vegan desserts, hiking, and practicing yoga. To learn more about Lexi’s work and passions, visit her LinkedIn. 

Did you know that residential yards cover roughly 30% of land in the United States? This is one reason why the Arizona Wildlife Federation seeks to expand gardening for wildlife in people’s yards and neighborhoods. This includes a certification program —led by the National Wildlife Federation — that promotes the provisioning of food, water, and shelter (i.e., wildlife habitat) in residential and other gardens. You may be wondering: can residents’ yards benefit wildlife and related conservation efforts? The short answer is yes — and scientific evidence has proven it. 

Researchers affiliated with Arizona State University and the U.S. Forest Service, among others, have evaluated vegetation and bird diversity in NWF-Certified Wildlife Habitat®. Focusing on residential yards, the research team compared biodiversity in certified habitats and different types of lawns and natural areas in six U.S. cities. Specifically, the team collected data on vegetation and bird species in metropolitan Phoenix, as well as Los Angeles, Miami, Baltimore, Boston, and Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Researchers collected data on vegetation and bird species in three types of residential yards and two types of natural areas, as shown in the graph to the right below. The yard types included NWF-certified habitat and two types of lawns (defined as yards covered by at least 75% turfgrass): those fertilized (called high-input lawns) and not fertilized (low-input lawns). For each yard type, several different residential properties were surveyed in each of the six metro regions.

The team also surveyed two types of parks as “reference sites.” The idea here was to compare vegetation and bird diversity in these relatively undeveloped areas that contain wildlife habitat. Interstitial parks were sites within the metropolitan region that are managed as parks compared to relatively unmanaged nature preserves (i.e., representing native ecosystems such as the Sonoran Desert in Phoenix). For each type of reference site, 4 or 5 parks were evaluated from each metro region for a total of more than 25 natural sites.

So, what did the biodiversity surveys entail? Imagine going into your own yard and counting all of the different types of plants and birds you see. How many different species would you see? This approach essentially mirrors the methodology the researchers used to assess the diversity of species across different landscape types. This method of field research is known as community ecology surveys, and the goal is to document every unique species of bird and vegetation. In inventorying vegetation, the researchers documented cultivated vegetation including purposely planted trees, shrubs, and herbaceous (non-woody) plants. The team also inventoried “weeds”, which they consider “spontaneous vegetation” (i.e., since they are not intentionally cultivated). The field surveys generated various measures of biodiversity, including species richness — which is the number of different species of vegetation or birds found at each site. The researchers then compared species richness across the different types of yards and reference sites.

Plant Diversity

Plant ecologist Dr. Josep Padullés Cubino, who formerly was affiliated with the University of Minnesota but now is a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, led the assessment of vegetation diversity. Dr. Padullés Cubino discovered that NWF-certified gardens hosted the highest total number of vegetation at 1,408 species, followed by low-input lawns, then high-input lawns, and reference natural areas. While we might expect higher plant variety in natural areas versus yards, the opposite was found to be true. The higher species richness per unit area in residential yards compared to natural areas is due to the introduction and maintenance of non-native species found at nurseries.

A graphic related to vegetation diversity is known as a species accumulation curve (below right), which shows the differences in the number of species between each landscape type. From the figure, we clearly see that NWF-certified gardens host a larger number of species than other landscape types, including both types of lawns and the two reference sites. In fact, notice how the top line is still on an upward trend at 25 sampled plots. This indicates that even more species would have been found if the team continued to collect data from additional gardens.  

Certified wildlife yards also excelled compared to various-input lawns because of the higher variation inseed mass. Higher seed mass essentially means more food sources for birds and other wildlife available. Additionally, seed mass increases the ability of plants to reproduce. In all, plant diversity in a garden is crucial for wildlife to feast and live. 

Ensuring your wildlife garden contains various plants is an exceptional start to a successful wildlife garden. From the words of the expert himself, Josep Padullés Cubino reminds you that, “Wildlife gardening is a process that takes time. Be patient and take time to observe the changes in your garden and the wildlife it attracts.”

Bird Diversity

Wildlife ecologist Dr. Susannah Lerman, who is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, is passionate about native birds. In a publication she led with Dr. Desiree Narango, the team demonstrated that residential yards — regardless of the type — supported a greater number of bird species compared to the reference natural areas (i.e., parks). Unlike vegetation diversity, yards with NWF-certified habitats hosted similarly high species richness in the bird communities as the low- and high-input lawns. Yet community turnover — another measure of biodiversity — was uniquely highest in wildlife-certified yards compared to other yard types. Community turnover evaluates the magnitude of changes in the species present from one yard to another. What this essentially means is that in high-input lawns, we are likely to find the same common species — for example, rock pigeons, house sparrows, and great-tailed grackles — from one lawn to the next. But in NWF-certified yards, we see more changes in bird species from one NWF-certified yard to another. For instance, in one certified yard, you might see an Abert’s towhee, Anna’s hummingbird, and verdin, yet in the next, you might also see cactus wren, and in the next a curve-billed thrasher, and yet in another, a greater roadrunner. The image below, designed by Dr. Lerman, demonstrates the idea of community turnover with bird species common in the U.S. While lawn after lawn we see pigeons, sparrows, and grackles, the species in certified yards vary more greatly from habitat to habitat (i.e., a robin, cardinal, and woodpecker may be in one certified habitat yard, but in the next we see a robin along with wood thrush and chickadee, and in additional residential habitats we pick up additional species such as a grey catbird and yellow warbler. 

Dr. Lerman and colleagues’ research also found that neighborhoods withabundant tree canopy feature more diverse birds, and especially in warmer regions such as Arizona, trees can be a great way for species to stay cool and protected from threats. Meanwhile, impervious surfaces can exacerbate heat and lower biodiversity. Thus, in addition to managing yards as a wildlife habitat by following NWF’s certification guidelines, additional tips for attracting birds include increasing tree cover and reducing impervious surfaces such as patios. 

Lerman’s team also found that residential wildlife habitats tend to attract bird species with “high public interest,” or in other words, birds that people tend to appreciate and enjoy seeing. Example species include the Gilded Flicker and Costa’s Hummingbird. In contrast, the natural areas, or parks, tend to support “species of conservation concern,” which are birds that are imperiled due to declines in their populations. Example species of concern are the Cactus Wren and Gambel’s Quail. As a result, Dr. Lerman and colleagues advocate for both “land sparing” and “land sharing” approaches to conservation; while land sparing involves protecting natural areas in parks and preserves, land sharing entails residents creating wildlife habitat to share their yards with wildlife. Through both land sparing and sharing, human-dominated landscapes such as cities can protect wildlife and help preserve biodiversity.

Final Thoughts

In sum, scientific evidence from field research confirms that NWF-certified habitats in people’s yards enhance conservation by hosting diverse vegetation, which in turn supports varied bird species that people appreciate. Thus, residents can directly make a difference in their own yards by managing bird habitats. Not only does wildlife gardening provide shelter and resources for diverse wildlife, but people also reap related benefits. As Dr. Lerman notes, “There's also a lot of joy that comes from seeing different kinds of birds in your backyard.” 

Meet the ASU Team

To find out how to get certified or otherwise garden for wildlife, visit www.nwf.org/CERTIFY

Learn more about certified wildlife gardens in Arizona

Get tips on how to make your wildlife garden beautiful and low-maintenance

Be sure to sign up for Arizona Wildlife Federation’s E-News to receive regular updates on Gardening for Wildlife in Arizona!

Sources 

Lerman, S. B., Narango, D. L., Avolio, M. L., Bratt, A. R., Engebretson, J. M., Groffman, P. M., Hall, S. J., Heffernan, J. B., Hobbie, S. E., Larson, K. L., Locke, D. H., Neill, C., Nelson, K. C., Padullés Cubino, J., & Trammell, T. L. E. (2021). Residential yard management and landscape cover affect urban bird community diversity across the continental USA. Ecological Applications, 31(8), e02455. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2455

Lerman, S.B., K.L. Larson, D.L. Narango, M.A. Goddard, and P.P. Marra. 2023. Humanity for habitat: Residential yards as an opportunity for biodiversity conservation. Bioscience. 73: 671-689. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad085

Padullés Cubino, J., Cavender-Bares, J., Groffman, P. M., Avolio, M. L., Bratt, A. R., Hall, S. J., Larson, K. L., Lerman, S. B., Narango, D. L., Neill, C., Trammell, T. L. E., Wheeler, M. M., & Hobbie, S. E. (2020). Taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional composition and homogenization of residential yard vegetation with contrasting management. Landscape and Urban Planning, 202, 103877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103877

Note: the species accumulation curve above was Figure 2 published by Elsevier in https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204620300323?via%3Dihub

Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus). Photo Courtesy of Bruce Taubert.

Author: Kelli Larson, Professor of Geography and Sustainability at ASU

Kelli Larson is a Professor at Arizona State University who moved to the Sonoran Desert in 2005 and regularly engages students in her research. Her work focuses on how people interact with nature and manage urban landscapes and the environment. When she is not working, Kelli practices yoga and loves to hike, paddle, and otherwise explore nature and different places throughout Arizona and elsewhere. She also enjoys spending time with her dogs, going to plays, and cooking. You can learn more about Kelli or contact her through ASU.

From forested mountains to desert landscapes, wildlife travel far and wide to seek the best habitat for their survival. As urban and residential areas expand, wildlife increasingly finds their way into our backyards and neighborhoods. Although urbanization and other human activities degrade wildlife habitat worldwide, people can positively impact wildlife where they live. In particular, gardening for wildlife in residential yards and neighborhoods can provide crucial habitat for birds, bees, and other animals, thereby helping to protect wildlife and conserve biodiversity. 

Based at Arizona State University in Tempe, my research team has been collaborating with other researchers and conservationists to answer a variety of questions related to the environmental impacts of residents’ yards, broadly defined as the outdoor areas of homes inclusive of lawns (i.e., turfgrass), other plant species, gravel or wood mulch, patio areas, pools, and other natural or built features. Yards are particularly prevalent in neighborhoods with “single-family” or detached homes, in contrast to “multi-family” homes such as apartments and condos. You might ask: just how widespread are yards, and do they really matter? The short answer is yes — and in the U.S., residential areas cover about 30% of land, and among the U.S. housing stock, about two-thirds constitute single-family housing with yards, which we also refer to as residential landscapes or gardens. Since the design and management of these residential landscapes can significantly impact the environment, my research broadly examines: how and why do residents design and manage their yards in various ways, and what are the environmental as well as societal implications? 

As a Professor of Geography and Sustainability at Arizona State University (ASU), I have been conducting social science research on residential landscapes for nearly twenty years, particularly within metropolitan Phoenix and other urban regions of the U.S. My early research on yards primarily focused on water conservation in our arid region, since lawns and other landscape features (e.g., pools) in residential areas consume a significant amount of water. In fact, did you know that, collectively, residents’ irrigation of lawns and other plants — coupled with other outdoor water uses (including evaporation from pools) — constitute up to two-thirds of all water consumed in municipal (urban areas) of Arizona? Did you know that in Arizona's urban areas, up to two-thirds of all municipal water is consumed through outdoor uses, including lawn irrigation, plant watering, and pool evaporation? However, since the 1980s, cities like Phoenix and others in the southwestern U.S. have been transitioning away from mesic (wet) lawns to what researchers call xeric (dry) yards.

Xeric yards — which contain gravel or rock groundcover (instead of turfgrass, or lawns) — are often planted with native vegetation or climate-adapted, low water-use plants. As these landscapes have grown and replaced lawns in recent decades, the region has substantially lowered per-capita water use. This shift in residential (and other) landscapes not only conserves our state’s water resources; they can also have a positive impact on wildlife. So, over the last decade, I have been collaborating with ecologists and other social scientists to investigate: who is gardening for wildlife, and why? In other words, what factors motivate people to design and manage their yards in ways that provide habitat for wildlife, and what barriers exist to the adoption and expansion of wildlife-friendly yards? Meanwhile, I collaborate with ecologists and other scientists to examine how different yard designs and management practices affect the environment, including wildlife. 

From left to right: Diadasia diminuta, Lucifer sheartail hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer), and lesser longnosed bat (Leptonycteris curasuae yerbabuenae). Photos Courtesy of Bruce Taubert.

In a series of blog posts, my team will be sharing research on residential yards with you. The research projects we feature involve partnerships between ASU, the Arizona Wildlife Federation (AWF), and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), especially their programs focused on gardening for wildlife. If you are unfamiliar with these programs, they include certification programs that acknowledge residents' efforts to provide food, water, and shelter to wildlife, which you can read more about on the AWF and NWF websites. In a previous project funded by the National Science Foundation, an interdisciplinary team of social and ecological scientists collected data in NWF-certified habitats in residential yards and other types of landscapes to measure plant and bird biodiversity. During this project, I also led the analysis of social survey data to better understand who is gardening for wildlife and what is motivating them relative to people with traditional lawns or other types of landscapes. More recently, we have been analyzing where Certified Wildlife Habitats® are located in the state, and how many yards and other types of properties have been certified over the last 50 years. In this blog series, we present the results and welcome your feedback. 

The ASU team includes three bright undergraduate students — all of whom are majoring in sustainability with links to geographical sciences and urban planning. All three are passionate about wildlife and conservation: Alexandra (Lexi) Cegielski, Sharika Kapur, and Sophia Ruger. Each student has co-written a blog post to share past and recent research findings.

First, Lexi details the biodiversity impacts of Certified Wildlife Habitats® in people’s yards compared to other types of yards and parks based on research by my colleagues, Drs. Padu Cubinos, who is a biogeographer, and Susannah Lerman, who is an ecologist.

Next, Sharika explains how aesthetics and maintenance concerns dominate when residents are making decisions about their yards. By extension, we provide tips for designing beautiful yards that are easy to maintain.

Lastly, Sophia Ruger presents our preliminary geospatial and temporal analyses of the Certified Wildlife Habitats® in Arizona, partly using Geographic Information Systems which enable mapping and spatial analysis. In addition to showing that the vast majority of certifications are in people’s yards, some years have experienced relatively high and low numbers of Certified Wildlife Habitats®, which are prevalent in some Arizona communities more than others.

We hope you enjoy learning about our work!

Mexico state and federal team with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Photo Courtesy of Betty Dickens.

Author: Glen Dickens, President, Board of Directors, Arizona Wildlife Federation and Vice President, Board of Directors, Arizona Antelope Foundation

Glen Dickens is a retired Arizona Game and Fish Department Certified Wildlife Biologist. He is currently on the Board of the Arizona Antelope Foundation and has served as their Vice President and Projects manager since 2010. He is currently the President of the Arizona Wildlife Federation joining their board in 2010. Glen has a passion not just for wildlife, but to ensure that wildlife and habitat policies and decisions are grounded in “sound science and best governance.”

Tuesday, October 29, 2024, marked a wildlife restoration milestone when Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) biologists and volunteers delivered 98 healthy black-tailed prairie dogs (BTPD) to private ranch grasslands north of Cananea, Sonora. This reintroduction effort was possible because of the growth and success of reintroduced BTPD colonies in the Bureau of Land Management’s Las Cienegas National Conservation Area near Sonoita, Arizona.

The AZGFD team pose next to the 98 black-tailed prairie dogs being transported. Photo Courtesy of Betty Dickens.

Historically, Arizona was home to two of the five species of prairie dogs: the Gunnison’s and the black-tailed. While the Gunnison’s of northern Arizona survived efforts to remove them through poisoning from the 1920s through the 1950s, by 1960 black-tailed prairie dogs had been successfully removed from their entire range of 740,000 acres of grasslands in Santa Cruz, Pima, Cochise, and Graham counties. In response to a National Wildlife Federation 1998 petition to list the BTPD as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a Western states recovery action plan was put in place in 2009. As a result of that National Management Plan, Arizona agreed to reintroduce BTPD to 7,100 acres in at least three counties to help the recovery of the species. 

Paco and Perrito helping transport one coterie of black-tailed prairie dogs. Photo Courtesy of Betty Dickens.

In 2008, this effort (funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation) began in earnest in Arizona when BTPD trapped in New Mexico were re-introduced to the BLM’s Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. As of 2024, six colonies have been established in this grassland zone.

In 2011, in an effort to provide genetic diversity to the then three Las Cienegas growing colonies the AZGFD, in cooperation with the Secretariat of Environment Natural Resources and Fisheries Mexico (SEMARNAT), Comisión de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora (CEDES), and a private landowner/rancher in Sonora, Mexico captured 60 BTPD in Sonora and distributed them equally to each of the three new and growing colonies in Las Cienegas. Due to circumstances that occurred over the next several years, the colony on the private ranch in Sonora failed.

Thus, this fall’s effort to return and re-establish BTPD on the same Sonoran ranch has been on the books for quite some time. The AZGFD set up camp near the sponsor colony to be trapped on October 17th to begin pre-baiting the prairie dogs. Trapping occurred on the 25th and 26th of October. 

To successfully trap and relocate prairie dogs, it is important to understand their biology. Behaviorally, all prairie dog colonies are comprised of multiple social units, referred to as coteries. A prairie dog coterie is a family unit of prairie dogs who live together within the boundary of a colony. Coteries are made up of one or two breeding males, several breeding females, and their young. In recognition of this social order and behavior, AZGFD biologists go to great lengths to identify and actually flag these family groups prior to trapping to ensure that they are caged and transported together and released as a family unit into their respective new home’s holding cage and artificial burrow (see an example of this in the photo to the right).

By Sunday night, all 98 BTPDs were snug in their respective transport cages and ready for transport in two vans (they receive both alfalfa pellets and carrots while in their transport cages…they simply love carrots!). On October 27th, biologists and other personnel from Mexico’s two wildlife agencies and their Department of Agriculture arrived. The next morning, everyone caravaned south in five vehicles to Douglas to cross into Sonora at the Aqua Prieta port of entry. The necessary inspections and paperwork took several hours to complete (prairie dogs had never been imported to Mexico!). Finally at 2 pm, with permitting completed, we headed southwest to the city of Cananea to overnight. 

Black-tailed prairie dog nibbling on a carrot. Photo Courtesy of Betty Dickens.

Arising early Tuesday morning, October 29th, the group headed north from Cananea in the dark for the hour-and-a-half drive to the ranch release site. The site had been prepared in advance by SEMINART and CEDES biologists with 25 cages and artificial burrows. Over the next several hours, the process of quietly removing the prairie dogs from the van and putting the individual family coteries into their respectively numbered and flagged artificial burrows occurred. By 3 pm, the restoration mission was completed! 

Transferring black-tailed prairie dogs to their new home. Photo Courtesy of Betty Dickens.

To this long-retired AZGFD wildlife biologist who began mapping the Gunnison’s prairie dogs in 1980, who worked on the reintroduction of the black-footed ferrets in 1996, and who encouraged the reintroduction of the BTPD to southeastern Arizona in the late 1990s, this was a moving event. I shed many a tear as I observed the respect and care that was demonstrated by each and every biologist, from both of our countries, to re-establish this little, keystone grassland species. It’s not small stuff!

Author: Elise Ketcham, Communications Manager, Arizona Wildlife Federation

Elise has been a dedicated team member of the Arizona Wildlife Federation for over two years. She is an advocate for the protection of and public education about our wildlife species and public lands. A passionate birder and regular hiker, she also leads AWF's All Afield Hikes once a month.

Halloween is here, and while we’re busy dressing up, Arizona’s nocturnal wildlife is out celebrating — no costume or disguise needed when you’re naturally mysterious! Nocturnal wildlife is active tonight too, and there are plenty of ways to celebrate while looking out for Arizona’s incredible native species. Here’s how you can keep the festivities fun and safe for our wildlife neighbors.

1. Nocturnal Wildlife to Watch for This Halloween

If you’re out and about tonight, keep an eye (and ear!) out for some of Arizona’s nocturnal wildlife that may be joining the Halloween festivities:

• Owls: Arizona has 13 species of owl! The call of great horned owls often echoes through the night, as they are one of our most commonly seen owls. Halloween is a fitting time to spot these incredible birds — perhaps you’ll even observe one capturing a midnight snack!

• Bats: While some may be alarmed to see bats flitting around the sky at dusk, know that they are a critical part of our ecosystems and prefer to stay away from people. One amazing example of the importance of our native bats is the lesser long-nosed bats, who act as a key pollinator for cacti, particularly the saguaro cactus. Arizona’s 28 different bat species swoop through the sky hunting for insects, so keep an eye out for them tonight!

• Ringtail: Known for being elusive, Arizona’s state mammal may be quietly moving in the background. These adorable raccoon and coatimundi relatives are nocturnal hunters and are not in fact cats at all despite often being referred to as ringtail cats. They are fantastic climbers, so look up on rocky hills, trees, and saguaro to try to spot them!

An Arizona ringtail (Bassariscus a. arizonensis) peeks from behind a rockwall in the darkness of a natural cave. Photo Courtesy of Deidre Denali Rosenberg.

2. Wildlife-Friendly Halloween Decorations

As fun as Halloween decorations can be, some can unintentionally pose risks to wildlife:

• Avoid Fake Spiderwebs: Birds, insects, and even small mammals can easily get entangled in synthetic webbing, causing serious harm. Instead, use pumpkins, cornstalks, and natural materials to create a spooky atmosphere outside your house. You can also keep those fake (and possibly real, we don’t judge!) spiderwebs inside your home.

• Use Low Lighting: Flashing lights can disrupt the natural rhythms of nocturnal animals. Solar lights on timers and string lights with consistent brightness are great options that limit disturbances.

• Keep Pumpkins Out of Reach: To prevent nibbling from curious animals like javelinas and raccoons, keep pumpkins on higher surfaces like porch railings or hang them from sturdy hooks.

3. After Halloween: Turn Pumpkins into a Feast for Birds!

After Halloween is over, don’t let those pumpkins go to waste! Repurpose them as bird feeders to offer local birds a tasty meal as temperatures start to cool and food becomes more difficult to find.

• DIY Bird Feeder: Simply cut your pumpkin in half, remove any leftover pulp, and fill it with birdseed. Place it in a spot where birds feel safe, like the branch of a tree, and watch as the birds feast.

• Composting: If you prefer, compost your pumpkins after Halloween to enrich your soil, which can support the insects that many local species rely on.

4. Preparing Your Yard for Cooler Nights

Arizona’s wildlife may be experiencing cooler nights and even snow in the northern parts of the state. Consider these steps to help native species through the seasonal shift:

• Leave Some Leaf Litter: Leaf piles can provide shelter and warmth for insects, small mammals, and ground-feeding birds. By leaving some areas unraked, you’re creating a natural habitat for these creatures.

• Fresh Water: Water sources are important year-round, especially in the hotter areas of our state. Place a bird bath or shallow dish of fresh water where wildlife can safely reach it. Note — if the bird bath is a bit deep, add in some rocks to assist smaller wildlife like lizards and bees in crawling out if they fall in the water.

5. Create a Certified Wildlife Habitat!

The Arizona Wildlife Federation partners with the National Wildlife Federation to help you transform your outdoor space into a certified wildlife habitat. By providing essentials like food, water, and cover, you can join others across Arizona who support our wildlife year-round. When you certify your habitat and purchase a certified wildlife habitat sign, a portion of the cost supports the Arizona Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation's programs to help stop the decline of habitat for bees, butterflies, birds, amphibians, and other wildlife.

Enjoy Halloween with a wild touch this year, and let’s keep the festivities safe and friendly for our wild neighbors. With a little care and creativity, you can make Halloween magical for both people and wildlife!

Author: Elise Ketcham, Communications Manager, Arizona Wildlife Federation

Elise has been a dedicated team member of the Arizona Wildlife Federation for over two years. She is an advocate for the protection of and public education about our wildlife species and public lands. A passionate birder and regular hiker, she also leads AWF's All Afield Hikes once a month.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s (AZGFD) Small Game Program is embarking on an exciting research project to unravel the migratory patterns and daily movements of the interior band-tailed

 pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata fasciata) in Arizona. These striking birds grace our state from late March through mid-October, nesting in the lush canopies of mixed conifer forests, ponderosa pines, and dense stands of evergreen oaks and pines between elevations of 4,500 and 9,100 feet.

Often mistaken for domestic or feral pigeons found in urban areas, band-tailed pigeons have distinctive features that set them apart. Adults, distinguishable from their young, sport chrome-yellow bills and feet, a white crescent at the nape of their necks, and a dark gray band across the top of their tails — an attribute that lend the bird its name.

Author: Jeffrey Sorensen, Invertebrate Wildlife Program Manager, Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD)

Jeff is the “Snail Guy” for Arizona and has been with AZGFD for over 33 years as a wildlife and fisheries biologist. He is also a volunteer rappelling instructor for the AWF’s Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshops.

If you spot what looks like pink bubble gum along shoreline vegetation and rocks at your local pond or river, you most likely have found apple snail eggs.

Apple snails are large freshwater snails of the genus Pomacea, originally from South America, Central America, and Florida.

Years ago in Arizona, these snails were sold as pets for home aquariums. Unfortunately, someone had illegally dumped their unwanted pet apple snails into the lower Verde River around 2009. Since then, those apple snails have become well established in the lower Salt River and the canals and urban lakes of the Phoenix metropolitan area. A new infestation of these snails was recently documented in Silverbell Lake in the Tucson area.

Apple snails are highly invasive, with female snails capable of producing thousands of young each year. They adapt well to our waters and may outcompete our native snail populations, which are an important food source for many fish and wildlife. Most of our fish, water birds, amphibians, and reptiles don’t find apple snails very tasty, so there is little to no predation pressure on these large snails.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is working with the Tonto National Forest, OdySea Aquarium, Sealife Aquarium, the Phoenix Zoo’s Trailblazers Program, and dedicated volunteers to help survey and combat apple snails in our local waters. By smearing or knocking the pink egg masses from shoreline vegetation and rocks into the water, we help reduce the number of young apple snails. The snail eggs will drown if submerged. Juvenile and adult apple snails can be netted from shallow, warm waters and properly disposed of in trash bags.

We recommend that you wash your hands after handling any apple snails or eggs. The snails are known to carry a parasite that causes rat lungworm disease, which can infect humans. We also ask the public not to release unwanted pets into the wild. It’s illegal, and it causes more harm to our fish and wildlife that live in those waters.

To see some of this important work in the field, check out the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s educational video at the button below:

Save our snails! Invasive Apple Snails and what we can do about them

Want to get involved? You can assist AZGFD biologists with monitoring for native land snails on your own time! Learn more at the button below:

Report Native Snail Sighting through iNaturalist

Every year, it seems the Arizona Wildlife Federation pushes back on a handful of damaging public lands bills in our state legislature. The 2024 legislative session was different. There was an egregious amount of anti-public lands bills. We believe that this onslaught of bills was at least in part reactionary to the designation of our newest Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Although this new monument protects one of America’s greatest wildernesses from irresponsible energy development and resource extraction, conserving it for hunters, anglers, ranchers, and all Americans, there are still those who oppose any form of federal land designation.

This session, five bills and five memorials targeted various proposals, ranging from requiring state legislature, governor, and county approval for a private and willing landowner to sell their land to the federal government, to rescinding the Antiquities Act and asking that 30% of our federal public lands be turned over to the private hands of the state. Additionally, there were even bills opposing conservation easements, which are widely recognized as effective tools for independent landowners to support conservation efforts.

Fortunately, in the end, all the bills died in committees with just one (the private lands sale permission bill, HB2376, mentioned above) passing through the House and the Senate to the Governor’s desk where it was successfully vetoed. Unfortunately, the five aforementioned memorials passed and were transmitted to the Secretary of State. While memorials are not actionable items and are therefore not taken seriously oftentimes, they do send a dangerous message to our administration that Arizonans don’t care about or value our public lands.

With the defeat of all actionable bills, the 2024 legislative session can certainly be counted as a win for our public lands, outdoor recreation, and conservation. That being said, the passage of the five anti-public lands memorials should be a reminder to all who value their and their families’ access to Arizona’s beautiful public lands to stay tuned and stay vigilant!

For more information on the 2024 session and these bills, please visit our bill tracker at: azwildlife.org/2024-Arizona-Bill-Tracker

To learn how you can get involved in future advocacy opportunities, reach out to our Advocacy Director, Michael Cravens at michael@azwildlife.org

Photo Courtesy of the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Author: Kathryn (Ryn) Davison, Ranid Frogs Specialist, Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD)

Kathryn is a specialist in amphibians and reptiles with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, where she focuses on conservation efforts for threatened and endangered species across the Southwest.

Part of my job as a wildlife biologist includes looking for new habitat for the threatened species with which I work: the Chiricahua leopard frog (Rana chiricahuensis). These frogs exist between elevations of 3,280 to 8,890 feet. In general, we search for habitat features such as the lack or low density of invasive species (like bullfrogs or crayfish) and suitable cover like undercut banks, protruding roots, and rocky outcroppings. Their range spans through parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. 

Last summer, our team headed south near the US-Mexico border to survey an earthen pond (also called a ‘tank’) on an actively grazed cattle allotment in the Coronado National Forest. We schlepped down a hill with our backpacks, clipboards, and a dipnet. There, we were met by a herd of stoic cattle gathered around the water. A couple of calves were swimming from one side to the other, their heads peeking up over the surface. As we were greeted by a few sassy “moooooos,” we set down our gear a short distance away from the water’s edge. 

Breaking out our binoculars, we began to scan the area for any sign of frogs. It is like a game of “Where’s Waldo.” We look for eyes popping over the water and in the emergent vegetation as well as any lumps on the perimeter of the pond. These critters vary from green to brown and may appear darker in color in cooler water. It doesn’t take long before we’ve spotted our target species. Identifiable by their broken/inset dorsolateral folds (the ridges on their back) and their black and white peppered noduled thighs, they stood out from the surrounding rushes and grasses as they splayed out on the surface. Each of us counted up the number of frogs we saw, and we compared our finds. 

“Oh look, there’s another!” and “Add ten to that,” are always music to our ears. This particular pond housed hundreds of frogs. With our initial counts in our heads, we neared the water’s edge for a more in-depth survey. Upon our approach, the frogs on the bank leaped into the pond. Each step set off a chain reaction: imagine frogs doing “the wave” at a sports game. It was thrilling to see so many frogs, big and small, persisting in a state that is thought of to be quite dry. We scooped our dipnet into the water and found tadpoles of the species as well. 

That pond has been fortified by a collaboration between the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), U. S. Forest Service, and the permittee who runs cattle on the land. These frogs rely on permanent water sources, which can be scarce in a state where it generally rapidly evaporates in the heat. Since ranchers and private landowners are stewards of the water, it makes sense that we team up in a way that suits all of our needs. Sustainable grazing practices preserve the quality and quantity of resources on the landscape, which is important to both frogs and cows. The shared interest in water retention between cattle growers and AZGFD biologists creates a strong foundation for the conservation of the species as well as the livelihood of the people who live on and work the land. 

We appreciate the assistance and dedication of participating landowners in the Safe Harbor program, which provides private landowners (many of whom are ranchers) protections and assistance in habitat maintenance for threatened and endangered species in exchange for establishing or protecting frog populations on their properties. Strengthening water sources via recontouring, cleaning out, and deepening tanks (which many cattle growers do already) can benefit frogs as well. At the AZGFD, we apply for funding for similar habitat construction projects all across the state for private and public lands. The projects range from but are not limited to helping line ponds, building and maintaining fence lines, and working with ecosystem engineers to create wetlands. With a resource as scarce and precious as water in the Southwest, there is hope in cooperation to promote the goals of multiple parties and to allow different species to coexist.