he Cumberland Conservation Corridor comprises three priority corridors in Western Sydney and is supported by the Australian Government's 20 Million Trees initiative. Greening Australia was awarded a $2.889m grant to support the ongoing conservation efforts across this corridor with the aim of enhancing ecological connectivity. Recognising the importance of engaging people in active environmental restoration, Greening Australia included a strong community engagement component – 'the Community Corridor' – in the Cumberland Stepping Stones (CSS) project. 

The Community Corridor targeted four key participant groups – schools, corporate volunteers, community Bush Care groups and private landholders – across 6 Western Sydney Local Government Areas to undertake planting within the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. Over a 12 month period, close to 75,000 native tubestock were planted or provided as give-aways across the 43 community sites. The Community Corridor project engaged more than 3,000 people, the majority of whom were students. In the overarching CSS project, a total of 421,300 plants have been planted across Western Sydney. 

As part of the project a research study undertaken by Western Sydney University to evaluate the Community Corridor CSS initiative and address the following question: 'Is community engagement and education an effective methodology for biodiversity conservation?'