Key Takeaways:
- Pockets of remnant bushland and urban green spaces can become critical habitats for threatened species in Australian cities.
- Narrow strips of vegetation along roadsides, railways, and powerlines, as well as small shrubs and trees near carparks or behind shops, can support native species.
- Creating and enhancing green spaces in cities can help native species survive and bring nature back into urban lives.
- Learning from local knowledge, improving shared spaces, and making new connections with local communities and organizations can help create more green spaces in cities.
- Small actions, such as planting native plants and installing nest boxes, can make a significant difference in supporting native wildlife.
Introduction to Urban Green Spaces
At the end of our street, in an east coast city, is a huge park that’s easy to miss. Wedged in a valley between dead-end streets, its tall trees and fern-lined creek are a haven for native wildlife – and kids – especially on hot summer days. Yet, pockets of remnant bushland like this are a rarity in Australia’s rapidly growing cities. Instead, some of the most common green spaces in cities harboring native species are actually places we can be quick to disregard: narrow strips of vegetation along roadsides, beside railways or under powerlines; and small shrubs or trees near carparks or behind shops. These unlikely places, along with verge gardens, back yards, and balconies, can become critical habitats for the nearly 400 threatened species that reside in Australian cities and urban areas.
The Importance of Green Spaces
According to Dr. Kylie Soanes, a conservation biologist at the University of Melbourne, these green spaces can turn a suburb from being somewhere that’s hostile for nature to somewhere completely livable. Each patch is important by itself, perhaps offering a species food, shelter, or water – “but when you bring it all together, that’s what makes that landscape a habitat”, Soanes says. Research shows that endangered mammals, such as the southern brown bandicoot, happily reside in pockets of seemingly disused vegetation, while numerous small patches of greenery can support a greater richness of threatened species than a few larger reserves. By creating and enhancing these green spaces, we can help native species survive and bring nature back into urban lives.
Learning from Local Knowledge
So how can we create more of these green spaces in cities and enhance existing ones? It starts by getting to know your local area and paying attention to the other species we live alongside, Soanes says. Cities are extraordinarily biodiverse places. Finding out more about the plants and animals – that might only exist in your neighborhood or town – is a great way to begin. Council websites often list local environmental groups that work in the area and are mostly run by volunteers who know the landscape, take pride in their local species, and are always looking for more helpers to plant, weed, and measure local biodiversity. Local nurseries and plant guides are also good sources of information about what native species grow well in your area. However, urban soils often differ from natural environments, and may be heavily compacted, making them hard to work with, Soanes says, so loosening soils and mulching before planting can help.
Improving Shared Spaces
If your outdoor space is limited, you can still support native wildlife with a few small additions. “Don’t underestimate the power of a pot of native plants and a birdbath,” Soanes says. “Having those [food and] water sources through urban environments are really critical.” Installing nest boxes high up in trees can also attract native species, giving them a safe hide-out and place to breed. Birds, sugar gliders, and microbats that eat half their weight in insects every night might become your neighbors. Street-side gardens are another way of enhancing urban biodiversity. Replacing mown lawn with native plants also saves water, cools suburbs, and allows species to move through urban areas. For instance, the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor, a community-led initiative stitching together street gardens across four suburbs with the goal of connecting Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens and Westgate Park, has so far transformed about 1,800 sq m of public land into bushes buzzing with native insects, including blue-banded bees.
Making New Connections
Local communities, organizations, and landholders have also banded together to amplify the benefits of their bush regeneration efforts in regional areas. One initiative aims to link up bush regeneration sites to create safe corridors for sugar gliders in the Great Eastern Ranges, which stretch from Queensland to Victoria. These “glideways” reconnect fragmented forest habitats so gliders can move through the landscape, bolstering their population health and capacity to recover from events such as bushfires. Working as part of a bigger collective can be an antidote, Soanes says, to feeling like efforts to regenerate small pockets of bushland are futile when deforestation continues. “That’s a really powerful thing … to be able to show people, ‘Here’s what you can do in your spot that will make a difference.’” By making new connections with local communities and organizations, we can create a network of green spaces that support native species and bring nature back into urban lives.