Planting for wildlife habitat corridors

Why plant for wildlife habitat

You can plant native vegetation to:

• provide habitat for wildlife and
• assist wildlife movements across the landscape by connecting patches of remnant bushland.

Creating stepping stone vegetation pockets, incorporating existing paddock trees or re-establishing cleared understorey can benefit fauna movement, as well as improve biodiversity and landscape health.

As a general rule farms with coverage of 30% native vegetation are more productive, resilient and support more biodiversity.

Planting to improve wildlife habitat

It’s a good idea to plant alongside remnant vegetation such as travelling stock reserves, roadsides or creeks. This protects or buffers the remnant vegetation. It also increases the habitat value of both the revegetation and remnant site. 

Wildlife in the adjacent remnant vegetation will be able to immediately use your revegetation site. Plants from the remnant area may naturally regenerate in the revegetation site. This will improve the complexity.

An example of a wildlife corridor in the landscape. 

This vegetation links across the landscape to two larger reserve areas. The width of the vegetation corridor ranging from 50-150 metres wide. 

The vegetation is wide, and allows for safe passage for animals, as well as providing protection for gullies and creeks. 

Paddock trees and other small remnants of vegetation in paddocks also provides safe refuge areas.

Wildlife corridor design principles

To be effective, wildlife corridors should connect at least two patches of remnant vegetation. Try to avoid gaps that include barriers such as roads, which can inhibit the movements of small mammals.

Habitat corridors are most effective when they contain a variety of open and dense areas. This is called a habitat mosaic. Habitat corridors should also have a high diversity of native plant species and types. This means a mix of large and small trees, shrubs and native groundcover. 

Habitat mosaics with a shrubby understorey provide habitat for a greater variety of wildlife. All plantings should aim for a minimum of 60% shrubs and maximum of 40% trees. 

Shrubs are important as protective nesting and foraging sites for small birds. They can also provide benefits to soil health and occasional stock fodder depending on the species. 

Size is important. In general, the wider, the better. This creates a ‘core’ area that is free from edge effects and will provide habitat, rather than just a corridor for wildlife movement. Wide corridors, greater than 30m, may be used by less common wildlife (declining species). 

Narrow corridors are often dominated by common, aggressive birds such as:

• ravens
• magpies
• noisy miners (increaser species).

If your property is small, consider stepping‑stone plantings (minimum 400 m²). These should be:

• No more than 100 m apart, allowing small birds to move between patches safely.
• Positioned between existing habitat areas to reduce long flights without cover.

Main features of a wildlife habitat corridor design

Randomise the distance between seedlings and the rows.

Row spacings should be wide to allow native groundcover species to regenerate.  

Tips for best results

Consider putting curves in your rows; this will greatly enhance the mosaic effect.

Incorporate other habitat features into your site such as mature paddock trees, rocky outcrops and fallen timber. These features will greatly increase habitat diversity.

Direct seeding is the ideal method for establishing habitat areas as the unpredictable results add complexity to the design. It can also reduce establishment costs. 

If you are using seedlings, avoid planting at set intervals along your rows. It is not uncommon in native woodland to have distances of 30m between some trees.

If your wildlife habitat corridor needs fencing, consider using plain wire. Many birds, bats and gliders become entangled in barbed wire and die. 

Read more about wildlife friendly fencing.

Success stories

Farm-planning and planting for habitat health

Under the Driving Corridor Connectivity program, landholders worked with their neighbours to establish extensive corridor plantings and improve the ecological and productive health of their property.

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Your next steps

Get advice on:

• plant species selection
• planning your on-ground revegetation works
• direct seeding for native revegetation
• methods for planting seedlings.