Support environmentally significant locations

Indigenous or "locally native" plants are environmentally friendly, add beauty to your garden and provide food and shelter for wildlife such as birds, lizards, native bees and butterflies.

For more information see Using indigenous plants in your garden

Some ways to make your garden a wildlife friendly nature haven include:

• adding a bird bath or pond to provide water to animals living nearby and those that travel through the landscape.
• installing specific nest boxes and insect hotels to help provide more homes for wildlife.
• reducing artificial lights at night to preserve the natural darkness of bushland and minimise interference with wildlife behaviour.
• pruning dead Eucalypts, instead of removing them altogether, to help to retain habitat for birds, sugar gliders and microbats.
• using netting with a mesh size of 5mm x 5mm or less to help protect microbats and other animals from becoming entangled. Fore more information about Victorian netting laws visit the ABC website.

For more information see Create a nature haven.

Controlling weeds on private property helps surrounding bushland by preventing the spread of invasive species and preserving the health and diversity of locally native plants. For more information on common weeds in Maroondah see Environmental weeds.

A permit may be required to remove some woody weeds, see Tree and native vegetation removal.

Before you start controlling the weeds, take some time to observe what animals are currently using them for food and shelter, and remove them slowly until replacement food and shelter has been provided.

Minimise the use of chemicals to help protect the health of wildlife - frogs are sensitive to herbicides and pesticides, owls and Tawny Frogmouths are affected by some rodenticides, Blue-tongue Lizards are affected by snail baits, and native bees and other important pollinator insects can be impacted by pesticides and some organic herbicides.

Dispose of your rubbish and garden waste responsibly to ensure surrounding areas are free of litter.

For more information see How to dispose of unwanted items.

Keep cats inside to help protect local wildlife.

For more information on why staying inside is better for your cat see Cat ownership.

Excessive water run-off into bushland reserves can have detrimental impacts including:

• introduction of weed species into the bushland reserve
• spread and promotion of weed growth
• high nutrients influx carried in the water resulting in local flora death
• changes in hydrological condition of the soil resulting in plant and tree death, tree failure and irreversible alteration in vegetation composition.