Project overview
South East Local Land Services works closely with Landcare to support landholders to protect and improve koala habitat koala populations in the Southern Tablelands/Monaro region.
Caring for Cold Country Koalas
The Cold Country Koala habitat enhancement and survey project has allowed 15 landholders to protect and enhancing koala habitat in South East NSW, around the Numeralla...
Project background
Under the NSW Koala Strategy, the Southern Tablelands includes one of ten koala stronghold populations within NSW.
It is vitally important for us to protect and enhance koala habitat in and around this area through on-ground works, as well as conducting ongoing surveys to learn more about this population and how we can help them.
Historical and recent surveys have shown that the koala population in these areas has local and state-wide significance.
The main threats to koalas across the Southern Tablelands are:
- loss and fragmentation of habitat
- destruction of habitat by fire
- rapidly spreading weed, African lovegrass
- vehicle strike
- installation of pest animal exclusion fences without koala fence crossings.
Project objectives
The Cold Country Koalas project aims to contribute to NSW Koala Strategy goals:
- doubling koala numbers by 2050
- encouraging healthy koala populations.
Project delivery
Work includes:
- pest animal or livestock exclusion fencing
- revegetation planting to expand and connect koala habitat
- weed control works and education
- citizen science landholder and community surveys to identify and understand koala occupancy
- community activity and engagement.
Work underway
Work includes:
- habitat protection and restoration
- the installation of pest exclusion fencing to protect habitat revegetation sites from feral deer and goats
- weed control
- Koala Karaoke audio monitoring and thermal drone surveys
- collection and analysis of koala scat to gather information on the disease status of local koala populations.
Watch the video
Keeping Cold Country Koalas safe from pests
This video highlights the importance of controlling pest animals in order to keep our Cold Country Koalas safe, and to protect their habitat from damage caused by pest...
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Outcomes
- 152 recorders were deployed across all land tenures, with 71 on private land, 64 on National Park reserves and 18 in State Forests.
- Koalas were detected at 45 sites, which equated to 29.6% of all sites.
- Koala presence was found to be much higher in the Southern Tablelands ARKS, with 72% of the recorders detecting koala calls.
- When property tenure was examined, NPWS reserves heard koalas at 91% of ARKS sites.
- Private property, while not as great, also recorded a high level of detection at 66% within the ARKS.
- No recorders were deployed on State Forest lands within the ARKS boundary.
- The results from sites outside of the ARKS boundary were substantially lower despite almost twice as many recorders deployed.
- Only 6% of sites outside of the ARKS detected koalas, with all but one found on private property.
While these results demonstrate that the frequency of koala occurrence outside of the ARKS is much lower, the survey confirms previous reports on the distribution of koalas across the Southern Tablelands beyond the ARKS.
Koalas were found in semirural areas in close proximity to Queanbeyan, through to the Tinderry ranges, nearby Cooma and within the Avonside range.
It is also worth noting the sampling intensity within the ARKS was over three times greater than the outside area.
Future surveys will continue to explore the region as a whole, with a greater emphasis on areas of unknown koala status.
Table 1. Results of surveys within and outside of the Southern Tablelands ARKS.
| Heading | Southern Tablelands ARKS | Outside of ARKS |
| Number of recorders | 54 | 98 |
| Recorder detection | 72% | 6% |
| Number of private properties | 15 | 56 |
| Private property detection | 66% | 9% |
| Public property detection | 91% | 2% |
Report
- In the 550 nights of recording data 431 calls were heard, compared with 3 calls in 175 nights across the Avonside Zone.
- As the survey technique aims to exploit the male koalas bellowing behaviour, it was expected that males were heard most often.
- We did however also detect females responding to male calls on 42 occasions.
- Calls were heard during all hours of the night but displayed a peak between 10pm and 4am.
- Koala presence was found to be much higher in the Monaro ARKS, with 56% of the recorders detecting koala calls.
- Some properties had multiple recorders deployed, so once this was accounted for, we found that 63% of the properties surveyed had koalas present.
- Of the 39 private properties participating in the survey, over half of these detected koalas.
- There was only a single property in the Avonside Zone that recorded koalas.
Table 1. Survey results for the Monaro ARKS and Avonside Zone that recorded Koalas
| Metric | Monaro ARKS | Avonside Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Number of recorders | 79 | 25 |
| Recorder activity | 56% | 4% |
| Number of participating properties | 46 | 21 |
| Property activity | 63% | 5% |
| Number of private : public properties | 39:7 | 20:1 |
| Activity of private : public properties | 56% : 100% | 5% : 0% |
Table 2. Survey details and results for the cluster areas within the Monaro ARKS.
| Metric | Numeralla | Jerangle | Tinderry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approximate survey area | 4,600 ha | 1,800 ha | 1,500 ha |
| Number of recorders | 46 | 18 | 15 |
| Recorder activity | 83% | 22% | 13% |
| Number of participating properties | 27 | 13 | 6 |
| Property activity | 89% | 23% | 33% |
| Number of private : public properties | 21:6 | 12:1 | 6:0 |
| Activity of private : public properties | 86% : 100% | 17% : 100% | 33% : 0% |
The influence of vegetation on koala presence followed similar patterns described for koalas across their distribution. Areas with a mature woodland, not recently subject to wildfire and containing a diversity of favoured feed trees tended to detect koalas more frequently
The results of this survey will also help to direct priority areas for koala habitat protection and regeneration and identify where on-ground activities will best support koala populations.
Report
Funding and partnerships
Local Land Services has worked closely with:
- Upper Snowy Landcare
- Upper Murrumbidgee Landcare
- Snowy Monaro Regional Council
- Snowy Monaro Rural Fire Service.
The 2021 survey work carried out during the Cold Country Koalas Project was funded by the Australian Government through the Regional Fund for Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire – Enhancing Koala Habitat, South East NSW.
The work that follows on from that, from 2022 onward is funded by the NSW Koala Strategy through a regional partnership.
Contact Local Land Services NSW
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