Exotic Species

Plant Native Species

Native plants are the most environmentally-friendly choice because if planted in the proper place to match their growing requirements, they thrive in the soils, moisture and weather of your region. That means less wasteful supplemental watering and pest problems that require toxic chemicals.

Native plants are also the plants that native wildlife have formed symbiotic relationships with over thousands of years, and therefore the most sustainable way of offering habitat.

Exotic plants that evolved in other parts of the world or have been cultivated by humans into forms that don’t exist in nature do not support wildlife as well as native plants, and sometimes even escape into the wild and become invasive exotics that destroy natural habitat.

Find out which plants are best for wildlife in your area

Keep Wildlife Safe from Pets

Our pets and other domesticated species can have a huge negative impact on wildlife. House cats kill billions of birds and small animals each year and exotic pets that have been dumped into the wild such as Burmese pythons can become invasive exotics hurting native wildlife. They’re just doing what comes naturally to them, but this impact of our pets is unnatural and just an extension of the negative impact that we humans have on wildlife. It’s up to us to protect wildlife from our pets.

Where We Work

More than one-third of U.S. fish and wildlife species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades. The National Wildlife Federation is on the ground in seven regions across the country, collaborating with 53 state and territory affiliates to reverse the crisis and ensure wildlife thrive.

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