You can do many things to help wildlife around your home and garden. Some are very simple and others are a bit more complicated or take a bit more time.
Plant Native Plants
Our wildlife depends on native plants for food and shelter. Many native plants produce flowers for pollinators and seeds or berries for birds. Dense shrubs like Oregon Grape and Nootka Rose provide safe nesting and hiding spots for birds. Although insects are not the most popular type of local wildlife they are an important food source for many larger animals. Native plants tend to host a much larger diversity of insects than horticultural plants. Native Plants can be a bit harder to find, but Sagebrush Nursery in Oliver and Xeriscape Endemic Nursery in West Kelowna have lots to choose from.
Don't tidy too early
As soon as the weather warms up and the sun starts shining it is tempting to get outdoors and tidy up all the dead growth from last year. Sweeping away any remaining leaves and getting your garden ready for spring. The pollinators resting in your garden need a bit more time though. Many beneficial insects spend their winters in dead leaves or hollow stems. Waiting until the daytime temperatures are consistently around 10 degrees will ensure that any pollinators are awake and able to find new homes.
Just add water
In our dry climate water is a very important commodity. You can add water to your yard with a bird bath, a wildlife pond, or just a pebble tray for pollinators. If you have the space wildlife ponds are amazing, they will attract all sorts of wildlife, from birds to amphibians to dragonflies. Please don't release Goldfish in your pond they will eat amphibian eggs, and adults if they are large enough. They also stir up ponds and reduce water quality.
Pollinator pebble trays can be as simple as a plant tray with pebbles that you keep full of water. Bees and butterflies will be able to land on the pebbles and drink safely. Both pebble trays and bird baths should have the water changed completely once a day to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the water.
Reduce pesticide use
Many pesticides are non-targeted, which means they will kill a lot more than the pests you are hoping to get rid of. Some pesticides have been shown to affect honey bees in concentrations of parts per billion. This could mean that a little bit of pesticide that blows into your flowers from your lawn could still be enough to harm your pollinators.
Rodenticides can harm predators of rodents through secondary poisoning. This happens when predators like owls eat mice or rats that have been poisoned. Often poisoned rodents will be slow, disoriented, and easier to catch, which increases the chances they will be caught before they die. Secondary poisoning can also affect cats and dogs.
Snap traps are the most humane method for dealing with rodents. If they are being used outside you can place them into a rubbermaid or similar container with holes for the rodents to get in.
Wildlife friendly fences
If you do need to have fences on your property here are a few things to keep in mind. Barbed wire fences or fences with decorative spikes on top can be dangerous to wildlife. Using round wire on the tops and bottoms of fences can allow wildlife to safely pass over or under fences.
If you have deer fencing on your property, consider leaving room on the edges of your property so that deer and other animals can move past your property and access habitat patches on either side.
Attaching visibility markers or reflectors to barbed wire fences can help hawks and owls see fences and avoid collisions
Turn off outdoor lights at night
Bright outdoor lights can confuse migrating birds, making it more likely that they hit windows or buildings. Bright lights can also disrupt noctural animals that are adapted to darkness. Swapping out lights that are always on with lights that are triggered by movement can save energy, benefit wildlife, and still allow you to see when you need to.
Build a bird box
Bird boxes are an easy way to help some of our local birds, including tree swallows, house wrens, chickadees, and bluebirds. Which birds you attract will depend on the size of the entrance hole of your box and where you place the box. Boxes shouldn't have perches, those just give predators somewhere to stand. Keeping entrance holes to under 1.5 inches in diameter will prevent Starlings from using the boxes.