Landscape design for attracting wildlife in southwestern urban environments

Urban environments present unique challenges for landscape designers wishing to incorporate wildlife attractants into their designs. Cities such as Tucson, Arizona that are surrounded by relatively large expanses of native vegetation provide many opportunities for effectively enticing native wildlife into urban spaces. Patches of landscape can be designed that mimic vegetation composition found on the peripheral edges and may potentially lure wildlife by providing food and cover. These areas may also provide regenerative patches of native vegetation within the urban matrix, thereby offering connectedness to larger areas of native vegetation. Such corridors encourage wildlife movement and may aid in the retention of wildlife populations. The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate design techniques used to create these vegetation patches specifically for attracting songbirds, hummingbirds, and butterflies within urban spaces in Tucson. Design strategies that address plant species, structure, composition and diversity will be presented.