BROOKINGS — The newest wildlife refuge in the area isn’t part of a city, state, or national park — it’s in the backyard of Brookings resident Brianna Lind. Her yard has been certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

“Anyone actually can go online and choose to designate their property. I had a little bit of a fit of activism, and I did the wildlife certification,” Lind said. “It takes less than five minutes.” 

Her yard is one of more than 300,000 across North America recognized by the wildlife federation since 1973 for supporting native plants and providing a habitat for local wildlife. In addition to the wildlife certification, Lind also obtained a pollinator habitat certificate from the Xerxes Society and a butterfly waystation certificate from the organization Monarch Watch. 

“There’s a lot of space in people’s yards to do all kinds of things. Sometimes you want to keep your yard really open because you have kids and grandkids, and you need that space for playing. So I’m not advocating for converting every lawn in town,” Lind said. “But there is a lot of space when you look around town on people’s yards and on the boulevards; and sometimes you can plant things that help out pollinators, and bring in butterflies and also create beauty.”

Although she has training in a related field, Lind stressed that she’s not a horticulturalist. She said anyone can do this.

“I technically have a Ph.D. in plant and environmental sciences, but it’s more like geography and like remote sensing — so looking at images of Earth with satellites. So like, I’m not like a horticulture person,” Lind said. “You can get started in like any way that you want. It doesn’t have to be a big thing.”

Having a wildlife friendly yard means sometimes enduring a little garden damage.

“Some of the areas — like the beets and the carrots — are fenced off, because it turns out rabbits really like yellow beets especially. And they love carrots and peas and stuff like that. So I definitely have rabbits,” Lind said. “The biggest problems I have with pests are the bore worms that will go into cucurbits — so like certain types of cucumbers and squashes, like your classic green and yellow squash.”

She strives for solutions that keep the yard pesticide free and wildlife friendly.

“Last year I had some apple trees, and I had like four or five apples last year. And there was a squirrel that also had his eyes on those apples,” Lind said. “After three apples of him taking the apple off, eating a chunk and leaving it on the ground — I went to the store and bought some store apples, put them on the ground for the squirrel and then I was able to have the last two apples all by myself.”

That approach embodies her philosophy of harmonious coexistence.

“I love wildlife and I love encouraging it. So what I try to do is make it good for everyone,” Lind said. “I understand, yeah that squirrel also wants food — and I figured like it’s extra work to climb up into the tree, so maybe I could just give you these other apples … that are already on the ground? So that ended up working out. So I was happy about that.”

Being able to harvest food from her garden still remains a top priority.

“It’s mostly edible, and a lot of the flowers are here to help the beneficial insects come in and help pollinators want to be here — so that everything gets pollinated and makes fruit,” Lind said. “It’s important to have like that cross pollination and visitation, so that your plants will actually produce fruit instead of just being leafy and green and healthy looking, but not actually making something you want to eat.”

The National Wildlife Federation charges a $20 processing fee for certification. More information on the program is available at www.nwf.org/garden.  

Email Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.