Environmental Services Council Looks to Make Falls Church a 'Wildlife Habitat'

By Darien Bates

When the first structure was erected by Western man in Falls Church in 1699 the land surrounding the yet unnamed village was a delicate mix of environs, field and forest blending into one another, and rife with wildlife of all kinds. Today it’s more likely to see the new buildings now going up on Broad Street grow legs and walk the streets than to catch a glimpse of the bears and bobcats that once frequented the area.

But though the hands of time, and man, have wrought seemingly irreversible changes to the area, there are some in the City working to restore just a little of the wilderness that was at one time taken for granted.

This summer the Environmental Service Council in Falls Church announced plans to get the City of Falls Church certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat, a distinction conferred by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Announced at the final weekly concert this summer held in Cherry Hill Park, the council is now working to get as many households as possible enrolled in the program.

The Community Wildlife Habitat program is an extension of the Backyard Habitat program started by the NWF in 1973. That program was founded in response to an article published in one of the group’s children’s magazines that talked about attracting birds to one’s backyard. A number of interested people wrote in to the NWF asking for more details on how they could go about making their yards bird-friendly. The response was so enthusiastic the group decided to create an official certification process that could give structured guidelines to those interested.

Although the program lasted for decades with thousands of households certified, it wasn’t until 1998 that the group expanded the program to include entire communities. This time the program was designed to help communities do what people had been doing in their own yards, create an environment that could foster local wildlife and combat some of the environmentally deleterious effects of commercial and residential development.

Some of the problems the program attempts to address include contaminated and excessive run-off that increases flooding and pollution of rivers and streams, a rise in urban temperatures due to loss of tree cover and loss of habitat for native species.

Mary Burnett, communications manager for the NWF, said that along with creating more natural habitats in developed areas, the goal of the program is to inspire greater interest in the environment among the general populace. She admitted that the amount of environmental damage caused by the development that has swept through the Northern Virginia area is unlikely to be undone anytime soon, but she said the program is a good place to start.

“Even a community habitat is not going to compensate for the effects [of development] but hopefully it will educate people about the value of preserving green spaces,” she said. “It sends a signal that there is an interest in preserving and protecting natural lands.”

With the program still in its infancy, there are only a handful of communities certified around the United States, among them are areas in near Seattle, in California and in Virginia, the community of Reston.

Recently though, Arlington County has started on the process of getting certified along with Falls Church.

Mia Musalino has been leading the effort to certify Falls Church. As a habitat steward, she received training through the NWF about the requirements for becoming certified and has since been working with neighbors, businesses and the school system to convince them to start their own habitats.

In order for the City to get certified it’s necessary for a percentage of the City’s households to be approved as well as two of the schools and a number of other City properties. Musalino said that in an area the size of Falls Church the process could go relatively quickly, as long as there is a response from the community.

Musalino attributed her involvement in the program to her son, who at a young age is a burgeoning wildlife enthusiast. While Musalino, who grew up on a 100 acre farm has always been aware of and comfortable with nature, her lifetime of exposure made her take it for granted.

But as she watched her son’s interest in the caterpillars and birds that occasionally visited their home, she began to feel the need to find a way to cultivate the nature that has, for the most part absented the City.

In her own yard that goal has turned into an all-out effort to reform her yard. Starting off she planted more native species of plants and began weeding invasive exotic plants that were crowding out the local vegetation. She has used old logs and limbs to create shallow pools in which to retain water for butterflies and birds, while eliminating larger puddles that could serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The finished product was something more akin to a lightly forested area rather than a typical yard. There is little to no grass and the fallen limbs and leaves lie undisturbed amid scattered small shrubs. Though hers is not a yard likely to grace the cover of Better Homes & Gardens, Musalino said that the unorthodox landscaping has worked. Since starting her backyard habitat she has noticed more and more as nature, in the form of birds, butterflies and other beneficial insects has taken up root.

Though she has created her own kind of habitat amid debris and free-growing plants, Musalino said that there is no particular aesthetic necessary for a backyard habitat. Yards can look a variety of ways as long as they meet certain criteria defined by the NWF. Some of those criteria include providing cover for wildlife, planting native vegetation, eliminating pesticides, and controlling run-off from the property.

As far as the specific appearance of each yard however, the variation can be as great as that which defined the Northern Virginia ecosystem prior to human habitation. Showing off his own backyard, Dave Eckert, a well-known environmental and civil rights activist in Falls Church who has long cultivated the natural environment around his house, said that this area once featured five different kinds of ecosystems: woods, meadows, wetlands, stream banks and rock beds. This means that those looking to create a backyard habitat have a lot to choose from.

Eckert’s backyard resembles less the traditional grassy knoll and much more a small contained forest, complete with fringe growth and a solid tree canopy. Standing in the cool green shade of his back yard, one would hardly know that a suburban neighborhood was just feet away. Eckert said that along with capturing a forest environment, he made sure that his yard was able to host a variety of local plant and animal species.

By contrast, just next door is the home of Shari Maloney, another resident whose home has been certified as a wildlife habitat. While Eckert’s yard is a massive departure from the traditional yard, Maloney’s doesn’t stand out on the street as anything but a beautifully landscaped home with an abundance of flowers. Even the back of the home, though it blooms with a whole variety of plants, doesn’t scream wildlife. But the traditional appearance belies a focused attempt to create an environmentally sensitive landscape plan.

The borders of the yard, for example, have been planted with flowers and shrubs that keep water from running off into the street. Near the house Maloney has planted rows of flowers that attract varieties of butterflies and birds, who are attracted to the nectar and the seeds produced by these plants.

Unlike Eckert’s yard, Maloney’s has areas of well cared for grass though the majority of the area is still taken up by other plants.

Grass is generally avoided in backyard habitats because it doesn’t retain water the way other plants do and it provides very little in terms of food or cover for wildlife.

Susan Johnson, a landscape architect who worked with the NWF for 15 years and now splits time between teaching at George Mason University and her own business, has made her focus creating environmentally sensitive landscape designs. Her business card reads “Where grass comes last.”

Johnson said that it’s possible to create a whole variety of different landscapes and still have them fit into the framework of being environmentally friendly. In fact being conscious of the environment often makes the upkeep of yards significantly easier.

Using native species natural to the local environment usually results in less of a need for artificial fertilizers, as native plants are adapted to the types of soil composition available. There is also less need for pesticides as they generally are in balance with insect populations and other local plants creating a natural defense.

Johnson has helped design dozens of yards for people looking to get certified as a backyard habitat including a couple in Falls Church. Though she never has a shortage of work, Johnson said that most people are still not aware of the backyard program or aren’t sure about whether they would want to take part.

One of the reasons Johnson said is that until recently, the application to get one’s home and community certified was quite intimidating. The overall requirements created enough paperwork to fill a large binder. “It was like you had to be a landscape designer to complete the process,” she said.

Two years ago the NWF streamlined the process, making it easier for individuals to fill out and submit to the organization. Burnett said that though the process has been made simpler, the requirements have actually been tightened somewhat.

Musalino hopes that through getting the information out about the process she can convince people to get their own yards certified. She said that many people might actually have yards that can be certified without any changes, they just need to fill out the application. Other yards she said would just need minimal alterations to be certified.

But the biggest benefit of the program, Musalino pointed out, might not have anything to do with wildlife habitats. She said that by being more environmentally careful, people will be making the area safe for the fauna they care about the most: other people. “If it’s healthier for wildlife, it’s going to be healthier for humans,” she said.

For more information about getting involved in the Community Backyard Habitat Program contact Mia Musalino at ( 703) 533-3423 or send an e-mail to Habitat@FallsChurchEnvironment.org.