Cary Garden for Wildlife Program

Town of Cary

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Cary is a Certified Wildlife Habitat

Cary is the 101st community in the nation that has earned the designation of Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation. To achieve and maintain this honor we work with our citizens, businesses, and organizations to certify their outdoor spaces as Certified Wildlife Habitats. Our Cary Garden for Wildlife Program supports our community in creating a healthy ecosystem by choosing simple steps that provide food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise their young in a healthy habitat.

By participating in this program and certifying your outdoor space, you are playing a vital role in maintaining our community-wide designation and adding to the health and beauty of our community.

How Can Residents Get Involved?

It’s easy! We are asking homeowners, businesses, and community areas like churches, to sign up on the NWF website to commit to easy actions to support wildlife, like birds and pollinators (bees and butterflies), in their area. The actions are simple, like putting up a bird feeder and a bird bath. When you sign up for this certification you are helping Cary show the world that we are a community that supports a healthy environment for our citizens and wildlife. Each individual participant (homeowner, apartment-dweller, school, common area, business, etc.) who plans to get certified will need to register online on the NWF website. The registration is a very simple process and guides you through each step. It has a nominal one-time fee of $20. Click on the “get started” button below to register and look at this brochure that outlines the steps. Getting started is easy.

Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz | September 13

Park and recreation agencies from across the country will be hosting Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz events throughout the month. You can learn more about the Parks for Pollinators initiative and see which agencies are participating by visiting nrpa.org/BioBlitz.

Join us for our Parks for Pollinator Bioblitz Kickoff at Carpenter Park on September 13! Register here.

You can find Cary's Parks for Pollinators Project in iNaturalist here.

The Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz is organized by the National Recreation and Park Association.

Parks for Pollinators Programming

Bird and Bloomers | September 2, September 15
Nature Fun-days: BUZZworthy Spaces | September 10
Fire Station Garden Workdays | September 10-13
Busy Bees | September 11
Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz | September 13
Good Hope Farm Native Plants | Sept 18
Homegrown National Park: Doug Tallamy | Sept 19
Good Hope Farm Workday | Sept 20
Adult Nature Adventures: Buzzworthy Spaces | September 8, 21
Beyond the Weeds: Nature ID Apps | Sept 24
Bumbling Beetles | September 25
The Bees and the Trees: Samantha “Foxx” Winship | Sept 25
Supporting Pollinators & Native Birds in the Winter | Sept 27

Lights Out Program

Cary is teaming up with the Audubon Society to help prevent bird-window collisions through the Lights Out Program. Known as "bird strikes," these events are a leading cause of bird deaths and occur when birds become confused by artificial lights at night and fly into windows.

Migrating birds are particularly at-risk for this hazard due to exhaustion and their preference for flying at night, when the risk for predators is lower but the risk for window collisions can be higher.

Spring migration season: March 15 - May 31

Fall migration season: September 10 - November 30

The good news is there are things we can do to help them on their journey. Join us in taking the following actions at night during the peak fall migratory seasons:

Turn off unnecessary indoor and outdoor lights.
Keep blinds and curtains closed at night.
Remove plants from windowsills.

Thank you for helping us keep migrating birds safe, as they play an important role in our community’s ecosystem and bring joy to our world!

Program History

Town Council at its January 28, 2015 meeting, unanimously approved a new and exciting program called the Cary Garden for Wildlife Program in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation's Community Wildlife Habitat Program.

To achieve our initial designation as a Community Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, a minimum of 300 homes, five schools, and three common areas (like churches) in Cary were certified as wildlife habitats in the summer of 2017.

Cary’s participation in this program will link the citizens with our Town’s long-standing conservation programs as well as regional resources and will provide recognition to individuals as well as the Town for its conservation efforts.

Find out more at NWF's Website or by reviewing our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

2019 Was The Year of The Monarch Butterfly

The Town of Cary proclaimed 2019 as the Year of the Monarch Butterfly. Through community action, education, and outreach, we took the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors' Monarch Pledge, a commitment to increase native habitat and promote pollinator conservation in the Town of Cary. Learn more about how the Mayors' Monarch Pledge is supporting pollinator conservation and education in Cary.

Additional Resources