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The mantra of virtually every Hollywood horror film from “Frankenstein” to “Jurassic Park” has been the same: Don’t Mess with Mother Nature. Too bad, because that’s what humans do best.  

While two centuries of Manifest Destiny have led Americans to pave from sea to shining sea, a Berkeley couple has found a way to give a little back to the area’s wildlife. Or, more accurately, to give wildlife their backyard.  

When Juliet Lamont and Phil Price moved into their North Berkeley home six years back, they knew the place had possibilities. Codornices Creek – named for the quail Domingo Peralta and his family used to so enjoy blowing to kingdom come – flows through the backyard, shaded by several coast live oaks, redwoods and numerous other native bushes and shrubs. Between the babbling brook and graceful trees, the yard resembles a set for “The Swiss Family Robinson.” 

“People who want a nice garden might say ‘Gosh, I’d like some pretty flowers,’” says Lamont, an environmental consultant and UC Berkeley doctoral student in the Environmental Planning Department. “You can pick any flowers or maybe pick a flower that also happens to be the source of nectar for a hummingbird or a monarch butterfly. It’s not only a pretty flower but helps provide a great habitat.” 

In their efforts to create a garden that cooperated with the natural habitat rather than conquering it, Lamont and Price stumbled across the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat program. The couple followed the program’s guidelines and is now among the 20,000-odd families across the country who have had their front, back and side yards “certified” as wildlife habitats.  

According to the NWF, the four basics of providing wildlife habitat are food, water, cover and places to raise young. Lamont and Price’s backyard cleaned up on these categories, going four-for-four.  

“With the creek and the live oaks and redwoods, most of those things were already here,” says Price, an environmental statistician at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. “But I don’t want to give the impression that other people can’t provide wildlife habitats.” 

The couple’s front yard is more indicative of what the average urban or suburban dweller may hope to accomplish. Lamont planted hearty native species and built a birdbath. She even installed small prickles around the birdbath so her two cats and other carnivorous beasties wouldn’t set up shop around the bath. Finally, she hooked up the bath and garden to an economical drip watering system.  

If, at this point, you’re thinking that installing native species that attract local wildlife sounds like something you’d like to do but you don’t have the time or money – well, you probably do. “Going native,” so to speak, is actually cheaper and less time consuming than traditional gardening.  

“Native species are the ones that have adapted to this climate. They like it here and you don’t have to do all other sorts of acrobatics to make them grow,” affirms Richard Koenig of the East Bay Nursery on San Pablo Ave. “You don’t have to do any summer watering once they’re established. Nature has been doing this a lot longer than we have.” 

Plants like ceanothus shrubs, snowberries, Pacific irises and flannel trees attract hummingbirds, songbirds, butterflies and a variety of benevolent insects, negating the need for pesticides. Also, as Koenig implied, native plants help cut down on watering costs. Lamont says the drip system she put together could be “installed by a child.” 

“It’s incredibly satisfying to plant plants and actually see birds using them – every day!” says Lamont. “At dawn when the birds start singing you’d have no idea you’re in an urban type environment. It’s like a symphony out back. It’s like being in the country.” 

For information about taking steps to certify your yard with the National Wildlife Federation, call 703-790-4434.