Conservation Stories: Ginger Larsen

Ginger Larsen fell in love with Birch Bay, but NNLP helped her fall in love with her yard.

“I feel more connected to Birch Bay, as a whole, because I have a space that brings Birch Bay to my front door... Birch Bay is more than just the people and also more than just the wildlife. I feel like this project brought both worlds together in the best way. I have an amazing story to share with my community to encourage them to do the same and I also have a beautiful space that invites the wildlife into my space to enjoy while providing them food, water and shelter too.” – Ginger Larsen, 2024 NNLP Participant

She saw wildlife all around her home, including a Bald Eagle family, but rarely saw wildlife in her yard that consisted of lawn and cobbles.

Ginger Larsen fell in love with Birch Bay as soon as she began looking for a home to buy in Whatcom County. She loves the community and variety of nature. When she viewed a house close to beaches, creeks, and a green space, she bought it! However, her yard had no reflection of the natural beauty she associated with the surrounding space. It was a combination of cobble rocks and lawn, until she participated in the Neighborhood Native Landscaping Program (NNLP), a program jointly managed by Whatcom CD, Birch Bay Watershed & Aquatic Resources Management District (BBWARM), and Whatcom County Public Works.

Ginger heard about the Neighborhood Native Landscaping Program and immediately applied. She convinced several of her neighbors to apply, as well. Their homes were chosen for the program in 2024.

NNLP provides participating homeowners with planting plans, permitting, plants, mulch, and installation assistance to convert lawns to native landscaping — all free of charge. “I heard about the neighborhood planting program through social media and quickly started discussing it with my neighbors. One neighbor had also seen information on it, and we had both submitted our yards, so we gathered as many neighbors as we could to meet in her home and see how many people we could get on board.” NNLP uses a unique neighborhood engagement model, where project installation is focused on property clusters and neighbors help each other install the projects. The more neighbors who apply, the more likely the neighborhood will be chosen. Ginger and four of her neighbors filled out an application and were accepted in the Spring of 2024.

“I was very excited to participate in the program because the home purchased was 1/3 of an acre that had never had any landscaping done. It was going to be difficult and costly to do everything I wanted to do in my yard. I was very excited about adding natives to my yard as well because I felt it would really help my yard to thrive and bring in the wildlife for me to enjoy as well…. I really wanted to invite the animals in for food and shelter and my own personal enjoyment.”

NNLP covered all the costs for landscape design, permitting, plants, mulch, and installation of 3,000 square feet of native landscaping and 178 new native plants in Ginger’s yard!

After their neighborhood was accepted, each neighbor met separately with Whatcom CD’s Green Infrastructure Specialist, Katharine Kiendl. Ginger and Katharine walked her property together and talked about Ginger’s dreams for her landscape. Katharine then drew up a landscaping plan and from there the project went into motion. 3,000 square feet of cardboard was laid down to prevent the growth of grass and weeds. Then mulch was blown in on top of the cardboard, and in late fall 178 native plants were installed in her yard with the help of her neighbors, a Washington State Conservation Corp crew, and NNLP staff. In the past two years, she has loved watching her yard come to life.

“I've loved watching things systematically bloom around the yard and I love that I'm finally developing some more shady spaces as well. I've been able to add more natives to the space with ease to continue to increase the diversity of my space and I just love hearing the frogs and birds all over my yard. I love seeing the bats come swoop in through eating insects near the pond as well, so I added a bat house too!”

“The amount of time it takes to do yardwork has heavily decreased. It takes far less time to mow than ever before and far less time needed weeding as well.”

The wildlife may be the highlight of her yard, but Ginger also loves how much less time she spends maintaining her landscape. “The amount of time it takes to do yardwork has heavily decreased. It takes far less time to mow than ever before and far less time needed weeding as well. Some of the nuisance invasives are almost completely eradicated from yard at this point so they are much more manageable now and I see them eventually being completely eradicated in the near future.”

If you live in Birch Bay and would like to invite more wildlife to your yard with less maintenance, you can learn more about NNLP on the program webpage. “I want to just reiterate is how easy this program was to participate in. It was worth every minute of preparation and planting to have a beautiful and vibrant space to enjoy.” – Ginger Larsen

“I've loved watching things systematically bloom around the yard and I love that I'm finally developing some more shady spaces as well. I've been able to add more natives to the space with ease to continue to increase the diversity of my space and I just love hearing the frogs and birds all over my yard.”