Wildlife Ponds

Wildlife needs water to survive, from drinking water for birds to a place to live in for amphibians and insects. It’s a requirement for registering your yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Landscaping with native plants will bring wildlife to your yard, but perhaps nothing is better at attracting wildlife than a pond. Wildlife ponds are likely to attract reptiles, amphibians, dragonflies and other beneficial insects, small mammals, and others.

The wildlife ponds (also known as habitat ponds) we create do not include fish, since they would likely eat the beneficial insects and larvae of amphibians you’re trying to attract. Pumps and filters are typically needed for fish ponds, and are also known to suck in beneficial insects and amphibian larvae.

Our wildlife ponds rely on plants to create a natural balance within the pond. Native marginal plants are planted in a perimeter shelf and native aquatics are also included to help oxygenate the water. A small bubbler can be used as well to help oxygenate the pond as well as microbes to help break down leaves.

After installing, and during the first season, mosquito dunks may need to be used while the pond establishes. Once beneficial insects and amphibians inhabit the pond, something we’ve found to happen relatively quickly, mosquitoes should no longer be an issue. We tested our backyard wildlife pond extensively during the first year. It was constructed and filled in September, dunks were used the following spring and then discontinued by early summer and we rarely found mosquito larvae in our water samples after that. Dragonflies and damselflies in particular are amazingly efficient mosquito predators throughout their life cycle!