The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources wants to help you help wildlife on your property. The Habitat Partners© program encourages corporate landowners, private landowners, schools, and homeowners to improve habitat in their community that will benefit Virginia’s songbirds, mammals, amphibians and other wildlife.
Habitat refers to the essential elements that all wildlife species need to survive: adequate food, water, and shelter in an appropriate arrangement. A diverse habitat is one that has a wide range of plant types, layers, and edges that provide cover from weather and predators, nectar sources for insects, nuts and berries for birds and mammals, and places to raise young. The more diverse the habitat features, the greater the diversity of wildlife that can live there.
The face of our landscape is constantly changing, and with increasing urbanization and development comes fragmentation and loss of critical habitats. Habitat loss is the greatest single factor adversely affecting wildlife populations today.
Homeowners
- Habitat at Home© Booklet
- Habitat Gardening for Wildlife
- DWR and the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council invite you to learn “The 8 Essential Elements of Conservation Landscaping” and see examples of good landscape design at the CCLC’s website.
- Plant Virginia Natives: Regional Native Plant Guides and Marketing Campaigns
- Landscape Choices Inspired by Nature
Landowners
- Managing Land in the Piedmont for Birds & Other Wildlife
- Bobwhite Quail: the Virginia Quail Recovery Initiative
- Wildlife Needs Young Forests (Timber Harvests Helps Wildlife)
- Beyond the Bonfire: A Primer on Prescribed Fire for Virginia’s Private Landowners
- Prescribed Fire Contractors
Schools
- Schoolyard Habitat Correlations to Virginia Science SOL and Other Subject Area Content
- Creating or Improving a Schoolyard Habitat
- Teaching the SOLs in an Outdoor Classroom
- Schoolyard Habitat References: Top Picks
- Schoolyard Habitat Web Sites
- Grant Writing Tips & Web Sites
- Additional Outdoor Classroom Resources
Improving Habitat for Wildlife
Gardening & Plants for Wildlife
- Virginia Native Pollinator Seed Packets
- Virginia Plant Lists: Native Plants for Conservation, Restoration and Landscaping
- Booklet from USFWS: Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping
- EPA Wild Ones Handbook: Landscaping with Native Plants
- US Forest Service: Native Gardening with Wildflowers
- NAPPC: “Selecting Plants for Pollinators” Eco-Region Planning Guides
- Piedmont Virginia Native Plant Database
- Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
- Proceedings and Presentations – Habitat Conservation Forum