Atlanta No. 3 most wildlife-friendly city in U.S. (Druid Hills: 2015, houses)

[Airforceguy]

The National Wildlife Federation says Atlanta is the No. 3 city in the country when it comes to wildlife friendliness.
The organization created a Top 10 list based on what the organization says are three factors important to sustaining wildlife - the percentage of park land in each city, action to create wildlife habitat and schools' adoption of outdoor learning.

Atlanta No. 3 most wildlife-friendly city in U.S. - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

Atlanta No. 3 most wildlife-friendly city in U.S. - Atlanta Business Chronicle

That's good. Makes sense. I was pleasantly surprised how many trees there are in ATL when I first visited. Also like the new greenway plan. I also noticed there are a lot of great 4-H places in GA including near ATL like Rock Eagle, Fortson and Wahsega. Hopefully more parks will continue to be expanded or created and education in the natural sciences will continue to be a focus in GA.

[joey86]

That's surprising considering that we have a relatively low percentage of parkland. My guess is that they're taking into consideration parks around the metro.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by joey86

That's surprising considering that we have a relatively low percentage of parkland. My guess is that they're taking into consideration parks around the metro.

There's a lot of forested neighborhoods. We've had a coyote problem in Druid Hills. I saw one once on the property behind us. I've seen a buck on Emory University's campus. The creeks are in their natural state in many places and the buck probably followed a branch of Peachtree Creek. And then, of course, there are the hawks, owls, rabbits, opposums and snakes, all of which I've seen in my yard numerous times.

[joey86]

Originally Posted by bu2

There's a lot of forested neighborhoods. We've had a coyote problem in Druid Hills. I saw one once on the property behind us. I've seen a buck on Emory University's campus. The creeks are in their natural state in many places and the buck probably followed a branch of Peachtree Creek. And then, of course, there are the hawks, owls, rabbits, opposums and snakes, all of which I've seen in my yard numerous times.

I mentioned percentage of parkland since ours surprisingly low and it was one of the three criteria. It's cool that Atlanta made the list, but they're either counting parkland in the metro or it is due to the other two criteria.

"The organization created a Top 10 list based on what the organization says are three factors important to sustaining wildlife - the percentage of park land in each city, action to create wildlife habitat and schools' adoption of outdoor learning."

[ATLTJL]

Last week, I saw a coyote crossing the street. It was really awesome, I've never seen one before. Looked just like a slightly smaller wolf.

I see deer all the time in the winter, I hear owls in the summer, and I've seen bat houses in trees around my local parks. I've also seen beavers, hawks, great blue herons, rabbits, snakes, and lizards.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by joey86

I mentioned percentage of parkland since ours surprisingly low and it was one of the three criteria. It's cool that Atlanta made the list, but they're either counting parkland in the metro or it is due to the other two criteria.

"The organization created a Top 10 list based on what the organization says are three factors important to sustaining wildlife - the percentage of park land in each city, action to create wildlife habitat and schools' adoption of outdoor learning."

True, but further down in the article they talk about schools and "backyard habitat."

The NWF says of Atlanta, "The City in a Forest ranks highly across the board, coming in #3 in total Schoolyard Habitats (54), #2 in Schoolyard Habitats per capita, and #2 in Backyard Habitats per capita."

[bu2]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Last week, I saw a coyote crossing the street. It was really awesome, I've never seen one before. Looked just like a slightly smaller wolf.

I see deer all the time in the winter, I hear owls in the summer, and I've seen bat houses in trees around my local parks. I've also seen beavers, hawks, great blue herons, rabbits, snakes, and lizards.

I see hawks all the time (not referring to the basketball players). I've seen owls in the backyard on a few occasions. One time one perched on the basketball backboard for about 15 minutes. They can be really big. Probably looking for our chipmunks or squirrels.

I've seen deer on the Chattahoochee trails, but didn't expect to see one on Emory's campus. It was a pretty good sized buck near Candler Lake below the president's house a little before dusk.

[Poncey]

If Atlanta wasn't built in this region, the land would probably be a National Forest.

The dense inner-city tree canopy is what sets Atlanta apart from many other cities. It's beautiful here.

[illdeezy]

As a regular visitor from England, I am always amazed at the dense forestry in the region. You guys need to use this to your advantage as it makes you stand out. Absolutely beautiful.