Threats to Wildlife

Clearing native vegetation for agriculture, urban development or other purposes has greatly reduced the amount of habitat available for native wildlife.  Many patches of remaining vegetation are small or degraded and unable to provide the food and shelter that wildlife need.   Habitat is also often situated in ‘islands’ that are separated by towns, farms and roads that prevent wildlife from safely traveling between patches of vegetation.  The loss of understorey including small tees, shrubs and groundcovers, weed invasion, excessive burning, livestock grazing, and ‘tidying up’ to create lawn and parkland style gardens all contribute to this problem.

Native Plants and Attracting Wildlife

Attracting wildlife to your property requires habitat that provides food and shelter and allows breeding and migration to other areas.  Tree hollows that take decades to form, provide native animals such as small mammals, bats and birds, with refuge from weather and predators, and provide safe sites for roosting and breeding.  Removing living or dead hollow-bearing trees displaces wildlife that depend on them for survival.  If you have no mature trees on your property, breeding and nesting sites can be created by installing nestboxes for wildlife.  These are cheap and easy to make, or are also available commercially.

While tree hollows or nest boxes may provide shelter and an area for breeding and raising young, native wildlife also need a diverse natural environment where all forms of native vegetation including trees, shrubs, and groundcovers are represented.  Creating vegetation layers and maintaining fallen trees, dead wood, and leaf litter also provides habitat for ground dwelling animals including small mammals, reptiles and insects.  It is important that vegetation also provides food such as nectar and seeds, and that it is representative of species found in the local area as local wildlife are adapted to these conditions.  Introduced species such as willows, pines and conifers do not produce hollows suitable for native wildlife and along with other non-local plant species may become environmental weeds that have little benefit to wildlife.

Wildlife Corridors and Waterways

When creating wildlife corridors on your property try to link them with other areas of wildlife habitat, such as hollow bearing trees or remnant vegetation.  Working with your neighbours and local community may permit the connection of remnant vegetation and creation of corridors on a larger scale, which will be of benefit to native wildlife movement and breeding.