by Tess Wolfe

Reporter

Stow -- When Gene and Christina Haas bought the lot on which they built their home in Stow eight years ago, there wasn't much to work with.

"There was nothing here," said Gene, a gardener and retired Akron Public Schools teacher. "It was weeds, grass and bare dirt."

When the couple moved in on Groundhog Day in 2001 to the house they had constructed on their Saratoga Boulevard property, Gene went to work rototilling the clay-based yard, planting trees and building flower and vegetable gardens. He put in a pond and stocked it with coy.

Last November, the Haas' property was certified a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

"We're longtime proponents of restoring habitat for wildlife," said Roxanne Paul, operations coordinator for the NWF program. "In the last four years, the number of certified wildlife habitats has more than doubled. We passed 100,000 a few weeks ago."

In Ohio, there are more than 4,000 certified habitats -- twice the national average per state -- with 276 located in Summit County, she said.

"You don't have to have a big yard for this," said Paul. "It's really more quality than quantity."

Paying a $15 fee, applicants for certification by the NWF provide information about how their property fulfills the federation's four requirements.

"The Wildlife Federation says you have to have shelter, food, water and a place to raise young" to receive the certification," said Gene. "We have all of those things. In seven years, we've given it almost a parkish look -- not intentionally."

He applied for the designation on the NWF Web site last fall. In November, Gene received a letter of certification and a metal plaque displaying the habitat designation in the mail.

Paul described the certification status as being granted "on the honors' system." No one from the NWF checks the sites to authenticate the applicants' claims about their properties.

During the summer after the Haas' moved into their new home, Gene was a full-time gardener for the city of Stow, he said.

Gene also is a former military officer, retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in the reserve in 1992. Both he and Christina, also retired from teaching in Akron Public Schools, teach on a part-time basis at Akron Digital Academy, a charter school in Akron.

Gene said organizing the types and locations of plant life on the property was "plan as you go," rather than laying everything out ahead of time.

"We have a male and female duck that come here year after year," he said. "I can't tell if they're the same ones. They eat the bird feed and then wander over to the pond."

Christina added the ducks do not lay eggs on the property.

"That's our big disappointment," she said.

Other birds, such as an occasional blue heron, stop by the pond in the backyard.

"We don't discourage the little critters," Christina said. "We don't chase away the ground hog."

From pear to buckeye, Gene now has nearly 50 trees on the property.

"The two willows were a retirement gift to me from one of the schools in Akron," he said. "We brought it home in the back of the truck four years ago."

Now, the willow stands at close to 50 feet high.

"We also have pollinating trees," said Gene. "I think people are aware we need to reforest suburban areas."

For more information, call 800-822-9919 or go to www.nwf.org/habitat.

E-mail: twolfe@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3916