The program - called Spirit of the Bunyip and run by Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority - is aimed at establishing 100kilometres of native vegetation biolinks from the Bunyip State Park to the Western Port coast in 20 years.

Until now, only landholders have been involved in the revegetation project, planting native trees on part of their land, project co-ordinator Shane Scanlon said.

"There has been a huge effort by local landholders and the local landcare network (the Cardinia Environment Coalition) over the past decade to reverse this trend by planting trees on private farmland in the area.

"They've completed over 600 restoration and revegetation projects. It's not unreasonable to think that the companies and businesses that are making increasing profits from clearing and developing more land in this area might put something back by contributing to the Spirit of the Bunyip's revegetation efforts in the neighbouring farm areas.

"Now more land between Pakenham and Cranbourne will also be rezoned for housing to satisfy demand that is growing faster than expected...this accelerating growth makes protecting the remaining native habitat more important than ever."

Landowners involved in the project are subsidised by local landcare groups such as the Cardinia Environment Coalition, which collects seedlings and propagate them in its nurseries.

"Volunteers do much of the planting work, and the landholder signs an agreement to maintain the trees as they grow. This is a win-win-win," Mr Scanlon said.

Mr Scanlon plans to approach more local property developers to make a financial contribution to Spirit of the Bunyip. "We'll be asking them to consider putting in a few dollars for tree-planting on a farm nearby, to offset each new house-block they sell.

"This will help us to continue re-building our lost stocks of native animal and bird habitat at a pace that might keep up with rate they are building new homes."

Local developers that are looking to help the local environment can phone Shane Scanlon on 0437199935.

For details visit www.

spiritofthebunyip.com.au