Transforming land for wildlife vs. development
mail to: joyesm at gorge.net


Hi Tweeters;
Your input about overpopulation and development has been extremely
interesting. However I have not seen any positive ideas about how to
change the world around us. I know we can make a positive difference in
the environment around us if we ?just do it?. ?Just doing it,? means
buying land and fixing it up for wildlife. We are not doing this for
monetary gain but for the wildlife we are passionate about. It takes
sacrifice and hard work but it makes you happy. When wildlife is sharing
our world we have a more balanced, healthy, happy place to live. Instead
of buying motor homes and other wonderful modern toys we can put some of
our earnings into land and then transform it for birds and other
creatures.

Nothing in life has given me more joy than changing the land around me
to benefit birds. When I first moved to this place twenty-two years ago
I can remember having to walk about one-half mile to find a place to
enjoy bird-watching. I longed to see birds around me all the time so I
began transforming this weedy (introduced), dried-up landscape into
heaven on earth. First I seeded the area with a meadow grass-seed mix,
without turning over the dirt or any leveling, adding white clover seed
as well and began watering. Next I formed natural looking beds and
planted wild-type roses, butterfly bushes, sunflowers and other native
plants including fir, pine, tamarack, and black walnut- trees that birds
love. I built rock walls to give the yard contour (we have native rocks
everywhere). Some of the trees are at least forty feet tall now!

In 1996 we were blessed by a hundred year flood. It transformed the
small creek in our backyard into a raging torrent that took out fences
and left a huge pile of debris near the house. In the process of
cleaning it up my husband scooped out a small pond. During the storm
that preceded the flood Wood ducks came to the canyon for shelter so I
decided to put up nesting boxes to attract them permanently. It worked-
they came and raised fourteen little ones the first year and every year
since. Naturally not all the ducklings survive but my heart swells with
happiness when I watch five or six grown youngsters fly away each fall.

When I look around the yard today there are hundreds, sometimes
thousands of birds here at one time. Flocks of Violet green swallows and
Vaux?s swifts circle the pond. Great blue herons, Kingfishers, American
dippers, Sora rails call it home. Lazuli buntings, Western tanagers and
Cedar waxwings grace its banks and thrive on elderberries, wild cherries
and insects that love the area too.

Any piece of land given enough care can become a haven for wildlife. If
it does not have water create a field of sunflowers or a xeriscape; if
there is water create a pond surrounded by trees; ?just do it? and you
will find happiness.

Joy Stickney-Markgraf
Husum, Washington