We create California native plant restoration gardens that support wildlife in the urban environment.

WE BELIEVE that each garden can serve as an island for biodiversity - a landing place for birds, bees, and butterflies.  Link enough of these islands it creates a corridor that supports pollinators throughout the urban landscape.

How do we do this?

  • Create Learning Landscapes or Demonstration Gardens all over California
  • Design gardens for private and public landscapes
  • Observe and give tours and workdays in these landscapes
  • Help developers, municipalities, urban planners and beyond understand the impact these gardens can have on life (biodiversity)
  • Education via workshops and partnerships

Next:

  • Map the square footage of our landscapes
  • Observe who is coming to these landscapes using iNaturalist and other tools

 

Executive Director Update - March 31, 2025

Hello, thank you for dropping by!

 

As spring emerges and plants are growing inches per day, I encourage you all to enjoy the delights of native plants in your gardens. As I look out my office window, the wildflowers are about to burst.

Our work with the Resilient Landscapes Coalition is keeping us busy tabling and workshopping how to create resilient landscapes. Gardens that are fire-wise, drought-tolerant, and biodiverse.  Learn more at ResilientLandscapesCoalition.org.

We are also tending our demonstration gardens throughout Sonoma and Marin Counties. See below for an opportunity to visit the Sonoma Botanical Garden for free with a couple of hours of help.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Please do - all of the info is there for how to engage with us. On our socials too: @habitatcorridorproject

 

Hope to see you in the garden, or email me with questions about how to bring biodiversity to your garden.

 

More soon!

 

April

[email protected]

 

Get your hands dirty and learn about native plants at one of our garden days.

Hello Friends,

Please join me at our final spring work (fun) day at SBG.

The Welcome Center California Native Garden at the Sonoma Botanical Garden is thriving - I appreciate all of your help over the past year. WE all know the first few years in a new landscape are all about weeding and filling in where the plants have not made it. Gophers and heavy clay soil have been rough on this baby landscape and THANKFULLY the staff Horticulturalists have been working hard to catch those darned gophers while keeping weeds at bay. This landscape is an important educational tool for California gardeners and an island for biodiversity in a sea of vineyards. It's also an important grounding link to SBG and California as the entrance to the Oak Woodland walk.
Planting days are the most fun, and that's our focus for Saturday. The rare Vine Hill Manzanitas are thriving here with some distinct form and flower variations.  We will plant two more, as well as my favorite cultivars of Salvia ('Dara's Choice' and 'Winnifred Gillman'). Other fun plants as well. There may be some bonus gifts!
I hope to see you all in the garden on Saturday. We will circle up at 10:30 and take a little walk to explore successes and lessons I'd love your feedback. Then we will dive in for about an hour and a half.
 
AND please let me know if you are coming!
April
PS:
Check out the Winged Wonders Exhibit coming to SBG this Spring - I can not wait to see how it unfolds.
 

 

 

 

Our Story

April Owens and Nancy Bauer came together with a common passion for creating habitat in the urban landscape. Nancy, author of The California Wildlife Habitat Garden: How to Attract Bees, Butterflies, Birds, and Other Animals (UC Press), and April, a landscape design/build professional, bring our combined experience to create a growing urban landscape of habitat gardens.

April Profile

April Owens

Executive Director and Co-Founder

April collaborates with a wide range of partners to create new corridor sites.  She also oversees public landscape design services, serves as fundraiser and grant writer, gives talks, workshops, and more.

nbauer

Nancy Bauer

Co-Founder 

Nancy oversees habitat integrity for all of our demonstration gardens and creates wonderful content for our website and newsletter.

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The Habitat Corridor is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code. Federal EIN #84-4353404