City of Shoreline certified as Community Wildlife Habitat

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION®

November 12, 2010

Shoreline Becomes a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat™

Leading a nationwide trend in community concern for habitat loss, the community of Shoreline has been officially designated a National Wildlife Federation Community Wildlife Habitat, the 48th in the country and the 11th in Washington to receive this honor.

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) extends congratulations to the dedicated residents of Shoreline and the Community Wildlife Habitat Team for coming together around this common purpose and for their efforts to create a community where people and wildlife can flourish by conserving the local biodiversity. At a time when communities are faced with the problems of losing habitat to development and degradation, Shoreline stands as a model for other communities to emulate. The knowledge and inspiration this project has generated will guide Shoreline residents and visitors toward becoming ever better stewards of our natural world.

Shoreline got its name because it is a bridge between the shorelines of Puget Sound and Lake Washington and is located ten miles north of downtown Seattle between the city and county lines. It is a suburban community of about 55,000 with a history of being especially green with tall native evergreens and parks. It is the headwaters of three local creeks, is home to two bogs, and has a saltwater beach.

Since April 2007, Shoreline’s Community Wildlife Habitat members have been “working to foster a community living in harmony with nature.” Two hundred fourteen private habitats have been certified as either Certified Wildlife Habitat™ sites or Washington Department of Fish (WDFW) Wildlife Sanctuaries; some are both. In addition, the habitat gardens of seven schools, four places of worship, nine parks, one community garden site and three local businesses have been certified.

The “Habitat Team” has been ever present-- at local events, doing restoration at two parks, working to band and study local wintering birds, locating and signing champion trees in the park system, training NWF Habitat Stewards, and hosting a local Habitat Garden Tour. (Please visit http://www.sustainableshoreline.org/WildlifeProjects.html for more.)

The Community Wildlife Habitat project is part of NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program. These projects benefit the entire community of plants, wildlife, and people through the creation of sustainable landscapes with no/limited use of pesticides, fertilizers, or excess watering. These landscapes help keep water and air resources clean. They are healthier for all and are less resource-dependent than conventional landscapes.

Habitat landscapes naturalize our urban areas, enriching our lives with visiting wildlife. They provide participants with enjoyment and a sense of pride. A Community Wildlife Habitat project multiplies these benefits by creating and connecting multiple habitat areas to create wildlife corridors.

To date, only 47 other communities have been recognized with Community Wildlife Habitat certification. Since 1973, NWF has provided millions of people with the basic guidelines for making their landscapes more wildlife-friendly. There are over 136,000 certified habitats nationwide, 6,068 in Washington and 2,112 in King County.

Roxanne Nersesian Paul

Senior Coordinator, Community & Volunteer Outreach

National Wildlife Federation

11100 Wildlife Center Drive

Reston, VA 20190

703-438-6586

paul@nwf.org

The mission of the National Wildlife Federation is to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.