A new native-species gardening program, designed to help property owners restore vital habitat for wildlife, is offering expert advice at the click of a button.

In the Zone, a collaboration of World Wildlife Fund Canada and Carolinian Canada, is an online resource for gardeners and environmentalists from Toronto to Windsor.

Spokeswoman Emily Vandermeer says the new website provides a downloadable guide to help get gardeners started.

“Native plants are essential for food and shelter for monarch butterflies, frogs, turtles, owls, bees and other native wildlife,” Vandermeer said in a news release. “Especially as pressures from climate change and human development intensify.”

Private garden spaces growing native plants can play a critical role in restoring habitat, she said.

It can be as simple as planting a native oak or a patch of milkweed to begin the process of gradually transforming backyard space into woodland, water and wildflower gardens for native wildlife.

Vandermeer said the Carolinian zone makes up less than one-quarter of one per cent of Canada’s land mass and is home to more than 25 per cent of Canada’s population.

The rich ecosystems of old growth forests, freshwater wetlands, prairie grasslands and oak savannah are home to one-third of Canada’s at-risk plants and animals.

Seven of Ontario’s eight freshwater turtle species are at risk and at least 30 of the more than 200 bird species that breed in the zone are also at risk, including the red-headed woodpecker and cerulean warbler.

Natural habitat levels in the zone are at 16 per cent overall and need to be double that level to meet federal guidelines for healthy ecosystems. Woodland cover is down to 11 per cent, wetlands represent just five per cent and less than two per cent of the region’s tallgrass prairie remains.

And the quality of remaining habitat is often poor due to invasive species, pollution and other human impacts.

“Biodiversity in the Carolinian Zone is under tremendous stress,” said Sarah Winterton, WWF-Canada’s director of Nature Connected Communities. “Individuals – whether veteran green thumbs or trying their hand at gardening for the first time – have the power to make a difference.”

In addition to the free gardening guide, gardeners can measure their progress using the In the Zone Tracker and connect with a community of gardeners to share tips, exchange native plants and celebrate successes.

“The Carolinian Zone’s unique nature isn’t entirely lost,” said Michelle Kanter, executive director of Carolinian Canada. “Together we can save it, one planter, one yard, one street, one neighbourhood at a time.”

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