Registrations for the Autumn 2023 round of Habitat Heroes are now open.
Are you interested in gardening?
Are you keen to attract native birds and other native wildlife to your garden?
Then why not become a Habitat Hero? This program is an exciting initiative to help Wyndham residents learn about using locally native (Australian) plants in their gardens and to create a small garden for wildlife.
No experience is necessary to join the project. You just need an interest in gardening and in helping to protect local plants and animals.
Our gardens provide an opportunity to support our unique plants and animals. Many local plants are great choices for landscaping and can be used in any style of garden. In addition, your garden can provide a stepping stone for native birds and animals to move safely across our highly urbanised landscape.
What’s involved?
Our Habitat Heroes project provides practical guidance in how to create a habitat garden.
By participating you will:
- Discover our incredibly rich and diverse local flora and fauna.
- Learn how to work with our soils to help improve gardening success.
- Learn how to plan and develop a small wildlife garden.
- Receive 40 free plants (tube stock) and advice on designing your mini habitat garden from landscape experts.
- Get to know local residents with similar interests.
- Receive expert advice from a landscape designer.
Important Dates
Day 1
Workshops
An introduction to habitat gardens, the plants and animals of Wyndham, and basic garden design and preparation.
Date: 1 April, 2023
Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Where: Encore Events Centre, 80 Derrimut Rd, Hoppers Crossing
Native Garden Visits
Visit local native gardens to inspire your own habitat design and see design elements and native plants in use first-hand.
Date: 1 April, 2023
Time: 1:30 – 3:30pm (full details will be provided during the morning workshops)
Where: Various locations in Wyndham
Garden Consults
Enjoy a one-hour garden consult with one of our experienced program consultants. They will help you refine your habitat garden design, advise on garden preparation, and create a plant list for your garden. Consults will be booked individually at a time that suits you.
Date: April & May 2023
Day 3 – Nursery Visit
Take a tour of Newport Lakes Native Nursery to understand more about indigenous plant species. Collect your habitat heroes’ plants at the end of the tour.
Date: TBC
Where: Newport Lakes Native Nursery, 2 Lakes Drive, Newport
Articles
Habitat Heroes Short Films
Why not turn an unused area of your school yard into a habitat garden that can provide food, shelter, and a resting place for local wildlife?
Wyndham City is a fast-growing municipality with a high rate of urban development and with this comes challenges of habitat loss and fragmentation for local wildlife. Council’s Habitat Heroes Program aims to create habitat pockets and improve wildlife corridors on private land throughout the municipality through the creation of gardens for wildlife.
Your students can contribute the protection of wildlife by becoming Habitat Heroes and, with support from Council, creating a habitat garden within your school grounds.
What’s involved?
Council is accepting five schools per year to participate in the program. Participating schools will have a core group or class who will become Habitat Heroes and lead your school’s habitat garden project.
This program is best suited to a single class, green team, or leadership group of students within your school (max of 30 students, or less).
*Habitat Heroes School Program is designed to be flexible and can be tailored to grade 3 – VCE.
Your Habitat Heroes will:
Participate in three free incursions for your Habitat Hero group and undertake their own extra research about local biodiversity:
- Incursion 1: Learn about local biodiversity and conduct a fauna audit/habitat hunt of your school grounds to discover what wildlife already calls your school grounds home (approx. 1.5-hour session).
*Program facilitator will also do a site inspection of your chosen garden location and offer any advice for site preparation and suitability.- Follow-up activity: Students to choose one of the animals identified in the school grounds during the fauna audit, or an animal found in Wyndham, and research the habitat needs of that species (including things such as food sources, access to water, shelter from predators, nesting requirements, threats, conservation status).
- Incursion 2: Learn aboutthe role habitat gardens play in the urban environment, what elements to consider when creating a habitat garden, and how to design your garden using mud maps (1hr session).
- Follow-up activity: Students to develop their own mud map design for the habitat garden.
- Incursion 3: Planting Day! Time to get your hands dirty and plant out your habitat garden with participating students and teachers.
Program support
We would love your garden to get off to the best start possible, so along the way Council will provide you with:
- Copies of the Habitat Heroes booklet, full of information and tips to help create your habitat garden.
- Project or activity templates to guide your Habitat Heroes through their garden project.
- Ongoing support from Council officers and program facilitator throughout the program.
• Your school will receive up to 200 local indigenous tube stock plants for your habitat garden.
*Each school will be eligible for a delivery of garden mulch, tree stakes and plant guards if required for your particular garden and plant selection.
What we need from you
To ensure the success of your habitat garden and build your students’ knowledge of local biodiversity, there are a couple of things needed from your school to complete the Habitat Heroes School Program:
- A lead teacher who is passionate about the natural environment and connecting their students to the local flora and fauna. *Completion of specified follow-up activities is to be driven by the teacher.
- A dedicated section of your school yard to become a permanent habitat area. For example, the school entrance, un-used corner of the school yard, or empty existing garden beds.
- Have the support of your schools gardening staff to prepare and maintain the habitat garden (this may include weed control, addition of compost to improve tired garden soil, applying garden mulch to the site and assisting in the planting and ongoing watering of your garden. *If you have a rabbit problem at your school, consider tree guards or a rabbit proof fence for your garden area.
- Be able to accommodate the program delivery timeframe withing your school curriculum.
- Incursions 1 & 2 will be delivered during Term 2, planting day to occur in Term 3. - Provide additional class time to for students to work on extra project work or activities linked to biodiversity and planning their garden.
- Depending on the type and size of your garden, your school may wish to purchase extra indigenous plants to expand your habitat patch.
- Can schedule a planting session (Incursion 3) where your Habitat Hero students can get their hands dirty and plant out their habitat garden.
What next?
If your school would like to join the Habitat Heroes School Program, please complete the below EOI with as much detail as possible and return before March 22, 2023.
Contact Details: Environment Officer - Rebecca Bond habitatheroes@wyndham.vic.gov.au Phone: 9742 0777
Five schools will be chosen to participate in the Habitat Heroes School Program based on their ability to accommodate program and complete the program in its entirety, along with long-term benefits to both students and wildlife within the school grounds.