Habitat and wildlife recovery project

Local Land Services worked with local Southern Tablelands/Monaro landholders and the community to support the recovery of threatened species following the 2019/2020 bushfires.

Last updated: 21 November 2022

Listen

Lines of saplings planted alongside a fence.

On this page

Project overview

Status: Completed

The Habitat and wildlife recovery project: enhancing koala habitat undertook habitat restoration and protection works, in the Southern Tablelands Area of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS) during the 2021-2022 period.

The project involved:

habitat restoration and protection
weed and erosion control
pest animal control
bioacoustic koala surveys across 2 distinct areas.

A drone shot of paddocks with cows, tree planting and sheds in the background. — Revegetation planting to link and expand koala habitat.

Project background

Koalas in the cold country areas of the Monaro have been subject to a number of challenges over the years. Bushfires have been a frequent threat and the recent 2019/20 fires were the most extensive, with approximately 20% of the koala core habitat affected.

A number of research programs, including those from The Australian National University and University of Sunshine Coast are underway to help understand how the koalas react to these changes and what management can be undertaken to help support and secure our koala populations. Understanding where koalas are in the South East region is the first step to this management process.

The work of this project has been continued in:

Project objectives

This project aimed to:

restore and protect koala habitat through revegetation planting
control grazing pressure in remnant bushland through wildlife friendly fencing
reduce the threat of weeds on koala habitat
revegetate erosion sites
reduce the threat to habitat from feral animals
improve baseline knowledge of koala presence post-bushfire
work with landholders to help detect the presence of koalas on their property
direct priority areas for koala habitat protection and regeneration
identify where on-ground activities will best support koala populations.

Project delivery

Work included:

revegetation planting with koala feed trees to expand and connect koala habitat
weed control work and education
pest animal and livestock exclusion fencing
management of feral herbivores including goats, deer and pigs
bioacoustic surveys using Song Meter Micro audio recorders
vegetation and topography measurements
community engagement events and information sessions.

Project updates

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 animals such as pigs, deer and goats.
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 animals such as pigs, deer and goats. The video is produced in partnership with the Feral Scan and highlights how logging feral animal sightings is easy, quick and effective with the use of the Feral Scan app, which helps land management groups to coordinate control programs. South East Local Land Services working alongside Feral Scan, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Upper Snowy Landare and landholders Kelly Chang, Markus Buchhorn and Alison Swain.
Read transcript

2021

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 10 pm and 4 am.

Line graph showing number of calls by hour and gender from 7pm to 5am. Male calls (blue line) rise sharply from 15 at 7pm to a peak of 125 at 1am, then decline. Female calls (red line) stay low, peaking at 11pm and 4am with 10 to 15 calls. — This line graph titled *"Number of calls by hour and gender"* compares the number of calls made by males and females between 7 pm and 5 am. The x-axis shows each hour from 7 pm to 5 am, and the y-axis shows the total number of calls. The blue line represents male callers, showing a steady rise from 15 calls at 7 pm to a peak of about 125 at 1 am, then gradually declining to 25 calls by 5 am. The red line represents female callers, remaining consistently low with minor peaks of about 15 calls at 11 pm and 4 am. Overall, males made significantly more calls than females throughout the night.

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.

Read the full Cold country koala karaoke survey reports.

2022

Numeralla community day

Community members joined Local Land Services for a project wrap up, met Koala detection dogs and watched a demonstration on the work they do to help koalas. Other activities included:

drone demonstration
tree plantings
citizen science app instruction
wildlife friendly fencing.

Attendees also received habitat and feed trees.

A group of people stand in a paddock to look at a big white tree. — Community field day attendees inspect koala scratch marks on the Numeralla travelling stock reserve.

Tinderry community information session

Community members joined Local Land Services to hear the results of the ‘Koala Karaoke’ monitoring program and what options are available for pest control to help local koala populations.

Demonstrations included:

trail camera deployment
trap setting
feed station setting
thermal drones
how to use FeralScan to create a map of pest animal activity to guide control programs.

A group of people sit in a hall and listen to a talk. — Local community members heard from a number of speakers on a range of topics to help improve koala habitat.

Project outcomes

The project supported:

a broad scale pest control program, the purchase of 5 pig traps and pest animal control workshops at Numeralla and Michelago
10 landholders to protect and improve 98 hectares of koala habitat through the installation of 7956 metres of wildlife friendly fencing
11 landholders who collectively planted 4733 koala habitat and feed trees to expand and link koala habitat
136 hectares of weed control to improve and protect koala habitat.

Tree planting lines done alongside fencing and a riparian zone. — Livestock exclusion fencing and revegetation planting along a riparian zone.

The results from the koala survey undertaken as a part of this project has provided information on the distribution of koalas across the Monaro post 2019/20 bushfires. The project has also supported the continuing protection and improvement of koala habitat.

Key results from this survey include:

that koalas continue to occupy areas right across the Monaro ARKS area and still persist in the Avonside zone
there were stark differences in recorder activity between clusters within the Monaro ARKS, with the Numeralla area detecting substantially more koalas
the Monaro ARKS koala population have come through the 2019/20 fires in reasonable condition
that while the survey results only provide information on occupancy levels and not density, the distribution of koalas are similar to that pre-fire.

This project has also highlighted that private landholders are critical for conservation of cold country koalas. Almost 90% of the land is privately owned and in the Southern Tablelands ARKS, more than half of the surveyed private properties detected koalas.

The willingness of landholders to participate in this survey was exceptional and demonstrates the role that the community can have in species conservation. Continued support of landholders in this region will secure koala habitat and conservation of this unique species.

Planting sites on location. — Revegetation planting to improve, link and expand koala habitat.

Funding and partnerships

Local Land Services received funding from the Australina Government’s Bushfire Recovery package for wildlife and their habitat to assist landholders to protect, restore and enhance koala habitat, and to work with landholders to discover more about koalas in the region.

Key partners included: