Operation Backyard Recovery

Launched in response to the passage of Hurricane Katrina, Operation Backyard Recovery is focused on helping people and wildlife recover from the damage to trees and habitats across coastal Mississippi and beyond. Initial goals of this effort include the building and placement of birdhouses that can provide short and long-term support for birds that have lost roosting and nesting sites (Houses for Birds) and the planting of native trees and shrubs that can replace those lost to the storm and improve the quality of urban and suburban habitats for birds and other wildlife (Katrina Tree Recovery Campaign). Both goals are integral to the Audubon at Home program that promotes bird and wildlife-friendly activities at home. Long-term goals of Operation Backyard Recovery include promotion of simple approaches to making our backyards resilient to disturbances that are part of our natural world.

To date, hundreds of birdhouses, built with recycled fence boards collected across coastal Mississippi and many more sent from throughout the country, have been placed across the coast. In partnership with The National Arbor Day Foundation, over 20,000 native tree seedlings were distributed across 20 sites in coastal Mississippi and southeast Louisiana to help replace trees lost to the storm. These are only the beginning of what will be a long-term effort over the next few years.

We at Audubon hope that you will join us in finding the silver lining in the storm called Katrina by supporting Operation Backyard Recovery. The activities and programs described below are as much about helping people recover from the storm as helping wildlife. To date, people from the storm-damaged areas and throughout the United States have rolled up their sleeves to help our feathered friends and each other, and that is, by far, the best and most enduring medicine anyone could hope for.

For a detailed summary of Operation Backyard Recovery, click here for the pdf file.

For more details about the recent activities under the program and ways to contribute to Operation Backyard Recovery, click on the images and links shown below.

Give to Operation Backyard Recovery

Click here to read about the Houses for Birds Project

Click here for details about the Tree Recovery Campaign