ALPHARETTA, Georgia—A group of colleagues met last week for a lunch discussion of a public library's electronic databases. Minutes were taken. Sandwiches were unwrapped. The chair reviewed the minutes of the last meeting. The wishes and needs of citizens were considered—would people want Rosetta Stone online? Definitely! How could entrepreneurs and job seekers be told of the riches of Reference USA databases? What is the best way to reach out to high schools? Doesn't the website need another redesign?
One member of the committee reached into her pocket and pulled out wild blackberries. A handful of intense flavor and antioxidants spilled onto the table. The berries came from the scores of bushes in the wildlife habitat surrounding the library. Northeast/Spruill Oaks Regional Library has an official, certified Wildlife Habitat. The National Wildlife Federation certifies yards, garden, office grounds and even whole neighborhoods as wildlife habitats if they provide these elements:
· Food · Water · Shelter · Places to Raise Young
The reasons to create a backyard habitat are very serious: habitat loss is a great threat to animals and plants, according the Environmental Protection Agency and the Humane Society of the United States. Yet the benefits of gardening for wildlife aren't serious at all. They make life sweeter. The backyard habitat gardener can expect less mowing, no chemicals to buy, and the pleasure of seeing a chipmunk, a wren, a hawk or a turtle.
An enclosed garden next to the NES Library children's room has multiple feeders, two small birdbaths, and native trees and shrubs for nesting. "You wouldn't believe the birds we see," said librarian Benjamin Scott, "We see amazing birds." The day we visited a flicker, mockingbirds and a tiger swallowtail butterfly were using the habitat. Bumblebees were working diligently. Bluebird houses and other birdhouses were set in trees throughout the library grounds. Volunteers from the Friends of the Northeast Spruill Oaks Library fill the bird feeders, weed, mulch, and fill the bird baths. Mr. Scott and others recently held a cookout on the library grounds to celebrate summer reading. Parents bring their children to play or read. Friends of the Alpharetta Library also started and certified a Backyard Wildlife Habitat. Fulton County landscape architects designed both habitats and selected drought tolerant native plants for them. Even during the current historic drought, both habitats look lush.
When the Electronic Resources Committee had finished exercising their intellects on use statistics, training plans, evaluations and budgets, they visited the habitat for a few minutes. They stood in the sun while green leaves rustled around them and the green, white, red and black blackberries swayed in the breeze. Their work lives may have been made a little sweeter.
To learn more about gardening for wildlife at your home, school or workplace, please see www.nwf.org/backyard/.
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