By Tara Linderborg-Cordry
Wild animals thrive on a Fieldbrook property, living on plants such as manzanitas, native grasses, and wildflowers. Humboldt local Peter Haggard developed a unique, native-plant-focused garden on his one-acre property. This ecosystem gives Stellar’s jays a place to collect acorns from the oak trees, and a pond that is home to frogs and tadpoles. Haggard is a co-author with Jane Monroe on a 2025 Cal Poly Humboldt Press-published book, Rewilding: Native Gardening for the Pacific Northwest and North Coast.
They encourage readers to replace ornamental lawns and gardens with native plants. Rewilding also involves creating a habitat through water sources, food and shelter for wildlife. The goal is to support ecosystems, not just have a decorative garden. Monroe defines rewilding as “planting native plants that will help support and provide habitat for wildlife.”
Native plants provide seeds, food and habitat for local wildlife. Some insects depend on specific native plants to support their life cycles. Native manzanita trees can flower during the winter, providing nectar for pollinators when other plants aren’t available. Haggard noted that bumblebee queens sometimes emerge on warmer winter days in search of nectar. Native oaks produce acorns that feed birds and other wildlife. Native plant diversity helps to support a complex and balanced food web.
“If you can bring the right plants in,” Haggard said. “It multiplies how many more insects and wildlife you can actually get in an area.”
Cal Poly Humboldt’s Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT) practices sustainable gardening focused on composting and recycling.
“Most of the stuff that we get from our garden goes into our compost,” said CCAT Co-Director and CPH Senior Bono Hercila. “[It] turns into super beautiful compost and then goes right back into our garden.” The facility also collects rainwater and saves seeds from its garden to reuse in future seasons.
CCAT uses a three-bin composting system which helps to return nutrients to the soil. Hercila also spoke about CCAT’s pocket prairie that features a variety of native grasses, including California fescue and needlegrass.
Humboldt County has a large amount of natural spaces compared to other regions in the state, Monroe believes that this makes it an ideal place to implement rewilding. She hopes students at CPH will learn about the benefits of native plants and carry that knowledge to other places. One benefit is that these practices bring animals back, which Haggard is concerned about with so much urbanization.
“What about all the displaced animals, can we bring them back?” Haggard said. “I don’t want to see them disappear.”
Sharing space with wildlife is a natural part of ecological gardening. Monroe emphasizes that as community members, we have a responsibility to share resources and space with every member of our community — big and small.
“One of the main things I want people to take away is a sense of building community,” Haggard said. “Not just with people, but with the animals and plants.”
Bio: Tara Linderborg-Cordry is a student journalist and reporter with the Lumberjack. She enjoys writing about community issues and events, and hopes to pursue a career in Public Relations. She can be reached at trl39@humboldt.edu