AAH Ambassador Tool Kit

I hope you will find this Tool Kit helpful. It was designed to provide Audubon at Home Ambassadors with information you need at your fingertips, but remember, the only two pieces of paper you really need to take with you on a consultation are the Site Report and the Wildlife Sanctuary Certification application. That’s all! The rest of it is back-up material.

In this tool kit you will find documents such as:

• Guidelines for getting started
• Site Reports & Wildlife Sanctuary Certification forms
• Links and other useful information

Stay tuned for the Ambassador’s Brief which will be sent out monthly with updates of certified properties, site visits, workshops, new programs and other items of interest.

Please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if there are other documents you would like to add to this Tool Kit to make your site visits and consultations easier and more fun.

Just remember our mission is simple (Healthy Yard Pledge): Create healthy habitats in your backyards and other spaces by planting native species, removing invasive plants, reducing pesticide use, conserving water, protecting water quality, and keeping birds safe.

Tools

The document you will want to start with is:

Pocket Guidelines for Consultation with Property Owners

Forms

• Wildlife Sanctuary Application
• Audubon at Home Site Report
• Healthy Yard Page

Handouts

• Gardening to Attract Wildlife color handouts

Lists

• AAH Sanctuary Species List

Brochures

• Wildlife Sanctuary pamphlet
• Cats, Birds and You brochure

PDFs

• Audubon at Home in Northern Virginia: The Nature of Change Preserving the Natural Heritage of a Dynamic Region
• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: Conserving Bumble Bees
• Rutgers Bulletin: Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistant

Other Resources (Not Included in the Tool Kit)

Books

• Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, Douglas W. Tallamy,Timber Press (strongly recommended reading for ambassadors)
• The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv, Algonquin Books

Links

• Native Plant Resources for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/bayscapes.htm
• Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service http://www.fws.gov/ChesapeakeBay/schoolyd.htm
• USDA Plants Database, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture http://plants.usda.gov/
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center http://www.wildflower.org
• Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora http://www.vaplantatlas.org/