Dear All,

As the season turns, it’s easy to look for the obvious signs of change, the first blossoms, the return of birds, the quickening of the landscape. But as Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us in her recently launched Plant Circle video series, there is also a quieter practice: bud watching—learning to notice what is just beginning, not yet in full expression, but full of possibility.

This issue of The Microhabitat Connection honors that approach.

In Tom’s Corner, a fleeting visit from a screech owl, nearly a decade after a nest box was installed, offers a reminder that ecological work unfolds on its own timeline. The signals we look for are not always immediate or sustained, but they are no less meaningful for being subtle.

At the same time, across the Microhabitat Accelerator, we are seeing something else take shape. Programs that began as ideas or early plans are beginning to take root: Habitat & Harvest moving into implementation in Oregon; Fences of Abundance reimagining urban barriers as spaces of shared abundance in Brooklyn; new efforts emerging through conservation districts in places like Colorado. While each is distinct, locally grounded, and still in its early stages, together they point to a growing field.

Like buds, these efforts are not yet fully formed. But they carry within them the structure, direction, and potential of what may come.

We invite you to read this issue with that lens, attuned not only to outcomes, but to beginnings. To the small, distributed signs that something larger is taking hold.

Warmly,

Tripti & Tom

TOM'S CORNER

Lessons from the Owl — What Microhabitats Teach About Patience

Nearly ten years after I installed a nest box in my yard, a screech owl finally appeared. Just briefly, but long enough to remind me that ecological work unfolds on its own timeline. It’s easy to look for quick results, but microhabitats ask something different of us: steady care, attention, and patience. Sometimes the signs of success are subtle or fleeting, but they point to something deeper taking root. This reflection is an invitation to stay with the work, even when outcomes take time to reveal themselves…

INCUBATOR GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT

From Plan to Practice: Habitat & Harvest Launches

Habitat & Harvest, a new microhabitat program from Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District in Oregon, and funded by the Incubator Grant, is now underway. Moving quickly from strategic plan to implementation, the program is bringing habitat restoration into everyday landscapes while pairing it with a focus on food security through its “harvest” component.

From its integration into working landscapes to its beautifully crafted, artist-designed signage, Habitat & Harvest reflects a strong sense of place and purpose. Early outreach through native plant events has already led to multiple site visits, with more in the pipeline, as the program builds momentum.

Just as importantly, it is beginning to generate local ownership—from donated edible plants to native pollinators—signaling how small, thoughtful efforts can catalyze broader engagement.

INCUBATOR GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT

Fences of Abundance: Rewilding the Urban Commons

We’re delighted to also spotlight Fences of Abundance, a new microhabitat program launched by Brooklyn Rewilders with support from our Incubator Grant. Rooted in a simple but powerful idea—planting edible, native species along fences so that anyone can forage freely—the program reimagines everyday urban edges as spaces of generosity, connection, and ecological restoration.

Fences of Abundance was recently featured in an interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer in her new Plant Circle video series (a part of her Plant Baby Plant initiative), where she highlighted the project as a joyful expression of restoring the commons—bringing food, plants, and people back into relationship. Inspired in part by Kimmerer’s teachings, including the concept of the “Honorable Harvest,” the program pairs open access with an ethic of care, reciprocity, and stewardship.

Designed to be simple, replicable, and place-based, Fences of Abundance transforms small urban spaces into sites of learning, biodiversity, and community connection—where neighbors meet, children discover where food comes from, and habitat is created for pollinators and wildlife. As a new Startup Awardee, it represents the kind of imaginative, community-driven urban rewilding that the Incubator Grant is designed to support.

INCUBATOR GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT

Expanding the Field: Microhabitats and Conservation Districts

Mesa Conservation District in Colorado—another recipient of a Strategic Plan Award from the 2025 Incubator Grant—recently highlighted their emerging microhabitat program in their annual report, recognizing Village and Wilderness as a funding partner.

Working across a mixed rural–urban landscape, the district is exploring how microhabitats can address habitat loss and engage a wide range of landowners in restoring ecological function.

This collaboration reflects a broader opportunity: Soil and Water Conservation Districts, locally rooted and deeply connected to landowners, are well positioned to bring microhabitat programs to scale in diverse communities.

RESEARCH & INSIGHT

Society Needs A Doctor’s Prescription For Nature

This useful synthesis brings together a wide and growing body of research showing that time in nature does far more than improve mood. It sharpens attention, supports physical health, and even strengthens social connection and empathy. Studies highlighted here suggest that even brief, everyday interactions with nature, such as walking through a park or noticing trees on a street, can measurably improve cognitive function and well-being, while also fostering a greater sense of shared community.

For microhabitat program leaders, the implications are powerful: small, distributed interventions in everyday spaces are not just ecologically meaningful, but foundational to public health and social resilience. As access to nature becomes increasingly unequal and limited, the work of reintroducing nature where people live takes on added urgency and relevance.

What is a “Microhabitat Program”?

Microhabitat programs restore ecosystem function in the fragmented landscape be it for people or biodiversity or both. Examples include community-scale efforts to create backyard habitats, bioswales in urban areas, pollinator patches in agricultural areas and more.

What is the “Microhabitat Accelerator”?

The Microhabitat Accelerator aims to increase both the number and impact of microhabitat programs—advancing a growing movement to restore ecosystem function across fragmented landscapes.

Looking for previous issues of our newsletter?

Whether you are new to our newsletter, or just missed our last update in your inbox, you can now catch up on all the back issues.

Interested in supporting our work?

Donate today. Your support allows us to provide pro bono services to community-based nonprofits to help them create and share community-scale climate adaptation strategies—such as microhabitat programs. 

Please share this newsletter with anyone who might be interested.
Have thoughts, ideas or feedback for us? Get in touch at info@villageandwilderness.org

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up for future newsletters here.

See web version here.

We help community-based organizations invent, share and grow replicable, climate adaptation solutions. Our flagship project is the Microhabitat Accelerator℠.