Information & resources

This page contains a wealth of information and links to environmental and educational resources for the municipalities Candlebark services, listed by council area.


  • Trees and vegetation in the Yarra Ranges – information about trees and vegetation on roadsides, parks, private property and public land.
  • Ribbons of Green program. This program aims to encourage the use of indigenous plants to restore habitats across the Yarra Ranges by providing free indigenous plants. Eligibility requirements apply.
  • Gardens for Wildlife program – helps residents establish indigenous gardens to provide and food and shelter for our local wildlife.
  • Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery – not-for-profit community based indigenous plant nursery in Belgrave Heights. SDCN services Mount Dandenong, Silvan to Gembrook and Narre Warren to Churchill National Park. They also grow plants for the Dandenong Creek catchments of Upper Western Port and Upper Port Phillip Bay. This area includes the northern section of the Gippsland Plain and the southern section of the Highlands – Southern Fall bioregions.
  • Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater Indigenous Plant Nursery grow and sell over 150 species of trees, shrubs, grasses, herbs, lilies, sedges, groundcovers, climbers and aquatic/semi-aquatic plants specific to the Woori Yallock Creek sub-catchment around Yellingbo, Macclesfield, Seville, Emerald and surrounds.
  • Our Mountain Home – information about how to live in the Dandenong Ranges while minimising your environmental impact on our natural environment. Click on the link to request a copy of this informative brochure.
  • Weeds of the Yarra Ranges booklet – Learn about common garden and agricultural plants that are environmental weeds in the Yarra Ranges and surrounding areas.

Maroondah City Council logo
  • Trees, vegetation & weeds – Maroondah encourages the responsible management of naturestrips, trees, environmental weeds and burning off through regulations and provision of permits.
  • Environmental weeds in Maroondah and Melbourne’s outer east.
  • Biodiversity & habitat connectivity – information that guides council’s approach to biodiversity and habitat connectivity in Maroondah.
  • Biodiversity in Maroondah Volume 1 provides a contemporary overview of Maroondah’s biodiversity including what species and ecosystems it comprises, where it is concentrated, what threatens and sustains it, and what Maroondah City Council and the community can do to protect, restore and improve it.
  • Biodiversity in Maroondah Volume 2 provides an individual analysis of each site in Maroondah that meets the Victorian Government’s criteria for ‘sites of biological significance’.
  • The above two volumes informed the the preparation of the Maroondah Vegetation Strategy 2020-2030.
  • Indigenous flora and fauna. Maroondah has a vast diversity of flora and fauna, including many rare and threatened species who depend upon distinct habitat types. This webpage includes a link to a list of Maroondah’s indigenous plants.
  • The benefits of indigenous gardens.
  • Download a copy of the Wildlife Gardens booklet, a collaboration between CRISP Nursery and Maroondah City Council, for lots of practical advice for the home gardener.
  • Maroondah is home to approximately 44 bushland reserves, which offer visitors the enjoyment of wildflowers, wildlife, bush walks and wetlands. 
  • Environmental events calendar – keep up to date with nature related events in Maroondah and the wider nature community.
  • Nature Havens is a Council program that supports Maroondah residents to make their gardens more wildlife friendly by creating habitat stepping stones for native animals such as birds, insects, lizards and small mammals.
  • As part of our Nature Havens program, we’ll come to your garden and discuss ways you can provide more food, shelter and water for wildlife. You can register your interest in this program online.
  • A number of environmental community groups are active in the Maroondah municipality. These groups are mostly volunteers who contribute many hours to preserve and maintain the local natural environment.

  • Living with the natural environment. Manningham is surrounded by green open spaces and bushland. this includes walking tracks along the Birrarung (Yarra River) and many parklands and reserves. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring our local wildlife and plants thrive. Together, we can create a nature-positive legacy for future generations.