Along the Tarka Trail there are many valuable habitats beside the cycle track. The North Devon AONB and Biosphere Service manage these habitats for the benefit of wildlife where possible. There are a great variety of habitats including; oak woodland, hazel coppice, hedges, ponds, streams, ditches, meadows and culm grasslands.

All these habitats need management whether it is cutting coppice, clearing out ponds, laying hedges or mowing meadows. Frequently volunteer groups are involved with these tasks.

The hazel coppice beside the trail offers an ideal habitat for dormice, small areas of hazel have been coppiced (cut back to ground level) to encourage new strong re-growth which will produce good quantities of hazel nuts.

Dormice boxes have been erected to offer suitable nesting site and there is a dormouse monitoring programme.

The cuttings at Fremington are cut oncea year (like a hay meadow) which helps the many species of wildflowers that grow here.