Evaluate your yard.
Restore native habitat.
Become a certified steward.
Personalized backyard habitat evaluations empowering Marin County residents to transform your yards into thriving, resilient ecosystems as certified stewards.
Marin Backyard Habitats
Supporting biodiversity and landscape health in Marin one yard at a time.
Many of us care deeply about the natural world but aren’t sure where to start or how our individual efforts matter. While Marin protects over 50% of its land through conservation, private yards provide vital habitat corridors that wildlife and plants need to thrive.
Every backyard sits within a larger web of ecological systems — the wildlife corridors, watersheds, and climate patterns that define Marin’s landscape. Marin Backyard Habitats evaluates and certifies your property across five interconnected areas, giving you a clear, science-based picture of your yard’s role and impact on the larger system.
Our Evaluation Framework
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Locates your property within Marin’s Native Habitat Zones — the wildlife corridors, watersheds, climate zones, and fire hazard areas that define where your backyard sits within the larger landscape.
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Examines your property’s watershed, irrigation water, stormwater flow, and soil and pesticide conditions as they exist on your specific site.
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Identifies the species present on your property and evaluates the shelter (naturescaping), food, and water resources available to them.
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Inventories the native and exotic species on your property and assesses their fire-prone or fire-resistant characteristics, canopy structure (naturescaping), and fit within your Sunset climate zone.
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Assesses your property’s position within the Wildland Urban Interface and its fire safe zone, including fire-prone plantings and the shift from firescaping to naturescaping.
How it Works
Join Marin Backyard Habitats and transform your yard into a climate-resilient wildlife habitat through a personalized, three-phase path from evaluation to certification.
Get Involved
Join us in restoring nature from the ground up — become a habitat steward, partner with our program, or support the work of building healthier, more resilient landscapes across Marin.
For Stewards
Certify Your Backyard
Enroll to gain a clear, personalized path to transforming your yard into a thriving, wildlife-supporting, and fire-resilient habitat — and to join a growing community of neighbors restoring nature and climate resilience right where you live.
For Organizations
Become A Partner
Work with us to deliver habitat restoration and stewardship education to neighborhoods, amplify ecological impact, and build community leadership.
For Donors
Support Our Mission
Join us in transforming local neighborhoods into climate-resilient habitats and expanding stewardship training across all communities for generations to come.
Resource Library
Tools to help you understand your role, choose the right plants, and take confident steps toward creating a thriving, climate-resilient backyard habitat.
Become a Backyard Steward
Take the next step by enrolling in the Marin Backyard Habitats pilot program — begin your journey as a certified steward, connect with your local ecosystem, and join a growing community working together to restore biodiversity and climate resilience, one yard at a time.