Craig Doland and Jen Van Putten - Silver Louisiana Certified Habitat - Lake Charles

ANPP congratulates Craig Doland and Jen Van Putten for a certified silver habitat in Lake Charles!

Craig and Jen are recent graduates of the 2026 SWLA Master Naturalist class, which inspired them to begin to transform their Lake Charles Garden District home into a wildlife habitat with native plants, creative habitat additions, and a frog pond. Craig’s final presentation for the class was on native plants in the home landscape, and Jen’s was about constructing their frog pond, so they really put their Master Naturalist education to work, immediately.

This habitat is a relatively new work in progress, and they were even expanding the planting during the certification process to raise their initial bronze certification to silver! Amazing effort! Their habitat features many plants including Rudbeckia species, Echinacea purpurea, spider lilies, oak leaf hydrangea, mountain mints, Hibiscus, pickerelweed, and much more. This house on Bank Street will be one to watch in the coming years!

Craig also wanted to include this in the writeup:

“A very special thank you to the SWLA Master Naturalist Chapter, Chadscapes by Chad Everage, Sprout Savvy Garden Coaching Lori Gutierrez-Richard, and Robby Maxwell at Soggy Prairie Stalks and Seeds. You all inspired us to do this SIMPLE YET IMPORTANT change.”

Thanks for greauxing native, Craig and Jen!