About Us

Habitat Stepping Stones is an Australia wide, non-profit initiative, developed at Macquarie University in 2013. Our project helps you find food, water and shelter elements to add to your backyard, balcony or work space in order to create a habitat stepping stone for local wildlife.

It's easy for you to make a real difference to your local wildlife!

Just pledge online to add 3 or more habitat options to your place, and we'll send you this colourful plaque for your front fence! In the FOOD, WATER and SHELTER sections below, we showcase many habitat options, including birdbaths, nest boxes and specific plants that are beneficial to wildlife by providing nectar, seeds, shelter or nesting materials. We make sure the plant selection includes plants of varying heights, to promote habitat diversity, and also a range of flowering/fruiting/seeding times, to maximise biodiversity outcomes.

Note: If you have an existing garden which includes non native plants, we aren't expecting you to remove these plants. Habitat Stepping Stones is about adding water, native plant food and shelter elements to link wildlife corridors.

pledge on fence

See Angus Stewart from ABC TV’s Gardening Australia talking about the Habitat Stepping Stones program in the 2-min video below.

Want to sponsor or collaborate with the Habitat Stepping Stones project? Please email us: team@habitatsteppingstones.org.au

Friends of Habitat Stepping Stones

Recognition

Showcased: In the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) #NatureForAll list of international Success Stories.

Winner: National Trust Heritage Award for Conservation of Natural Landscape

Finalist: UN World Environment Day Award for Sustainability Education

Finalist: Blue Star Sustainability Award for Habitat & Wildlife Guardianship

Invited as a partner: In the IUCN's #NatureForAll global movement

Research Results

Research into the effectiveness of the program has shown that:

So far, participants have pledged to add over 8,000 habitat elements to their gardens
75% of surveyed participants reported a greater awareness of the importance of habitat for local wildlife.
98% are likely to continue adding habitat elements to their gardens in future.

everlasting daisy

The Habitat Stepping Stones program was designed and developed by the Australian Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability at Macquarie University.