Images courtesy of the Acadiana Native Plant Project.
One of the more than five hundred awardees of the official Louisiana Habitat Certification.
Over the course of just five years, the Louisiana Certified Habitat Program has inspired an ever-growing mosaic of vibrant, native habitats in home gardens across the state. The number of homes that have been certified as a bonafide “Louisiana Habitat” reached five hundred at the end of 2025, a milestone that Phyllis Griffard, coordinator of the program, describes as a testament not only to a more resilient ecosystem, but to a growing community of people for whom this matters.
“Those of us who once thought we were the only ones who believed native ecosystems were important can now see that we are all part of this connected community of people,” said Griffard.
“It was important to us that more people, not just biologists, recognize the spaces they manage are important. What you do there matters.” —Phyllis Griffard
The concept for the Louisiana Certified Habitat Program, which is administered by local organizations across the state via the Louisiana Native Plant Society, was to offer a tangible, accessible way for people to reconnect with their natural heritage and learn how to endow their properties with a purpose. “It was important to us that more people, not just biologists, recognize the spaces they manage are important,” said Griffard. “What you do there matters.”
Images courtesy of the Acadiana Native Plant Project.
One of the more than five hundred awardees of the official Louisiana Habitat Certification.
To achieve Louisiana Habitat certification, homeowners must be evaluated by coordinator-experts like Griffard for growing a certain number of native species on their property. Twenty-five species earns a bronze level certification, fifty earns silver, and seventy-five earns gold. Even native plants that aren’t intentionally cultivated—such as oak trees, or Virginia creeper, or wildflowers—are counted, so long as they are allowed to grow. “We don’t measure how beautiful the plants are, or how many flowers or bees or birds we see on it,” said Griffard. “We just count the number of species.”
[Read this: A Home Gardener's Guide to Rewilding in Louisiana]
Residents who meet these thresholds are awarded a yard sign citing the habitat level designation, and added to the official LNPS Certified Native Habitats Map—recognizing their place in Louisiana’s growing corridor of native habitats.
Images courtesy of the Acadiana Native Plant Project.
One of the more than five hundred awardees of the official Louisiana Habitat Certification.
The project is a collective one, shared by all of us in Louisiana, Griffard points out. A native bird that feeds on only a particular species of insect that feeds on a particular native plant might finally find satisfaction in a Louisiana Certified Garden, and if that home’s neighbors also plant one, the bird’s world grows. Today, the bird can travel to five hundred gardens in Louisiana, and find all that it needs. And that number is only growing.
Learn more about the Louisiana Certified Habitat Program at lnps.org/certifiedhabitat.
