Photo by Susan Salinger

I have often used this column to ask your help in protecting critical habitat for birds and wildlife in many places, from the Everglades to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now I want to ask your help in maintaining important habitat much closer to home—your home.

Your backyard, for example, combined with all the others in America, can provide some of the most valuable habitat for birds and wildlife, if you maintain it with conservation in mind.

Most people want to do the right thing for the environment, if they know what to do. Audubon can help you get started right at home. For decades we’ve asked you to feed birds in winter and to not let your cat roam wild. But whether it’s what you plant in your own yard, how much energy you use for your home and transportation, or what products you buy, your actions—combined with the actions of thousands of others—can make a tremendous difference.

In this country, home lawns blanket 21 million acres—an area bigger than New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. Each year, we dump tens of millions of pounds of fertilizers and pesticides on our own backyards, thus poisoning birds and wildlife while creating one of the largest sources of pollution runoff in our lakes and streams.

The typical American lawn of a third of an acre consumes an average of 10,000 gallons of water each year above and beyond rainwater. At a time when many communities are running short of water for both people and wildlife, converting just a few square yards of lawn to native vegetation can save considerable water. In addition, it would create new habitat for birds and other wildlife, eliminate millions of pounds of grass clippings that go into landfills every year, reduce pollution, and make our homes safer. As an extra benefit, ask your children to help. Having your family plant native vegetation that provides food and shelter for birds and other wildlife will teach everyone a lasting lesson.

Audubon already has local Chapters or Audubon Centers in more than 500 communities nationwide where you can learn about ways to help the environment. Now we want to show you easy and practical things you can do right at home. We call the program Audubon at Home. For more information, visit www.audubon.org and click on Audubon at Home.