Project overview
The Habitat for cold country koalas in Avonside project was an initiative to raise awareness of the cryptic koala population and to assist rural landholders to protect and improve koala habitat on their properties in the Avonside area between:
- Jindabyne
- Berridale
- Beloka.
The project involved:
- habitat restoration
- pest animal management
- koala population and disease monitoring
- community education and engagement.
Project background
The Southern Tablelands ARKS (Area of Regional Koala Significance) includes one of 19 priority koala populations and one of 9 koala regional partnerships within NSW. The Avonside koala population is small and there is little known about it. It falls outside the ARKS area as a discrete population that has escaped much surveying until this project.
It is vitally important for koala habitat to be protected in and around this area through on ground works. It is also important that surveys be conducted to learn more about the koala population around Avonside, and how they can be helped.
The main threats to koalas across the Southern Tablelands are:
- loss and fragmentation of habitat
- destruction of habitat by fire
- destruction of habitat by pest animals
- weeds including the rapidly spreading African lovegrass
- chlamydial disease leading to infertility
- vehicle strike
- installation of pest animal exclusion fences without koala fence crossings.
Work done under this project complements and builds on the work previously done under the Habitat and wildlife recovery project: enhancing koala habitat project.
Project objectives
The Habitat for cold country koalas in Avonside project aimed to:
- protect remnant vegetation by controlling regeneration pressures
- promote a biodiverse ecosystem
- help land managers improve koala habitat through revegetation with koala feed trees, weed management activities and livestock exclusion fencing
- reduce threats to koala habitat through management of feral deer, goats and pigs
- increase knowledge and community awareness of the koala population through koala monitoring and community engagement.
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 deer and pigs
- citizen science landholder and community surveys like audio monitoring to identify and understand koala occupancy
- community activity and engagement to increase knowledge of the koala population.
Project updates
25 song meter micros were deployed across the Avonside area, and 3 calls were recorded on a single property at the northern end of the range.
26 monitors deployed across sites forming part of the statewide baseline survey under the NSW Koala Strategy which sampled widely across the greater Southern Tablelands region. The survey confirmed that while the population appears quite small, koalas continue to persist across the Avonside region.
The Citizen Scientist Koala Karaoke project allowed for 47 song meter micro units to be deployed across the Avonside area from Kosciuszko Rd in the north to the bottom of Guises Range in the south.
Of these song meters, 1 recorder at the northern end of the Avonside range picked up male koala bellows over 4 nights and 1 monitor picked up a female koala at the southern end of the range.
While it was unfortunate to only have picked up 2 koalas on these monitors, there have also been several reports of koala sightings across the area over this time. These include:
- landholder sightings
- landholders reporting hearing koala bellows.
- thermal koala detection from helicopter during an aerial pest control program.
To follow up these detections and landholder records, an ‘Array’ of 25 Song meter minis were deployed in a grid arrangement, 400m apart.
The survey area was selected based on detections of koalas in the audio surveys in 2021 and 2022.
These monitors recorded for a minimum of 14 nights before being retrieved and data analysis was conducted to determine both presence/absence, and population density. There was a higher-than-expected rate of failure to record data in this survey with only 17 of the 25 monitors turning on during this survey.
| Monitors | Koala detections | Number of nights koalas detected |
|---|---|---|
| 9 units | 176 calls | 18 |
| 8 units | No detections | 0 |
| 8 units | Failed to function | 0 |
The survey was successful with 53% or 9 of the 17 functioning monitors detecting koalas, ranging with calls from 1 call per night and up to 34 calls per night.
The highest number of calls recorded on one monitor was 94 calls over 16 nights.
Density analysis for this survey was calculated to be 0.010 males per ha (Range = 0.004 - 0.020 m/ha).
Assuming a 1:1 sex ratio, which is typical in koala populations, this analysis estimated 0.020 koalas per ha at this site. This result may have been higher if all the monitors had worked as planned. Additionally, exploration of home range size in this area will also allow further refinement of the density estimate using this method.
It is hoped that there will be further opportunities to expand the research in this area to include further drone surveys to help determine density and extent of this population as well as additional disease, and diet analysis.
Avonside array
25 Song meter minis were deployed in a grid arrangement, 400m apart. The survey area was selected based on new detections of koalas in the general area between Avonside Road and Bushy Park Road, where we hope to learn more about the extent of this 'pocket' of koala occupancy.
These monitors recorded for a minimum of 14 nights before being retrieved and data analysis was conducted to determine both presence/absence, and population density.
| Monitors | Koala detections | Number of nights koalas detected |
|---|---|---|
| 22 units | 1,555 calls | 1-18 |
| 3 units | No detections | 0 |
The survey had a very positive result with 88% or 22 of the 25 monitors detecting koalas, ranging with calls from 25 calls per night and up to 195 calls per night. The highest number of calls recorded on one monitor was 308 calls over 18 nights.
Density analysis for this survey was calculated to be 0.018 males per ha (Range = 0.011 - 0.027 m/ha).
Assuming a 1:1 sex ratio, which is typical in koala populations, this analysis estimated 0.036 koalas per ha at this site.
Exploration of home range size in this area will allow further refinement of the density estimate using this method.
It is hoped that there will be further opportunities to expand the research in this area to include further drone surveys to help determine density and extent of this population as well as additional disease, and diet analysis.
Follow up thermal drone surveys were conducted and although no koala detections were made at the northern and southern ends of the study area, however 2 koalas were located with the thermal drone in central Avonside.
Volunteers from Landcare and Looking After Our Kosciuszko Orphans Wildlife Rescue (LAOKO) were directed to the locations where koalas were found with the drone, to locate the koalas in the trees.
The volunteers observed the koalas, to check for visible signs of disease, determine the sex of the animals and collected sample scat from under one animal to be sent away for disease and diet analysis.
- Both koalas were found in Candlebark (Eucalyptus rubida).
- Koalas were at elevations of 1114m and 1118m.
- Koalas were located only 140m apart and were both male.
Further thermal drone surveys were completed in the Avonside area under the Cold country koalas project.
Project outcomes
21 landholders registered under the project expression of interest to complete habitat restoration and protection projects. Some landholders were only interested in monitoring for koalas while others expressed their interest in revegetation, weed and or pest animal control.
There were 9 landholders who carried out on ground works to promote a biodiverse ecosystem, improving koala habitat through:
- revegetation with 2000 koala feed and habitat tubes planted
- 35ha of weed management activities
- 4000m of livestock exclusion fencing installed.
This work protected 12 hectares of native vegetation.
The project reduced threats to koala habitat through working with and supporting a broad scale pest management program to enable the control of feral deer, goats and pigs across an area of approximately 65,000ha in 2024, and included 76 landholders.
A total of 121 song meter micros were deployed between the 2021 to 2025 koala breeding seasons across 77 landholder properties and park estate. The community engagement from these landholders has increased the knowledge and awareness of the koala population in the Avonside area. Multiple landholders have continued to explore their properties for koalas and to log koala records using the I Spy Koala app.
Disease analysis results
Scat collected for disease analysis from both the NSW Koala Strategy and the Local Land Services survey were sent to the Koala Health Hub at Sydney University, with 2 animals testing negative on Chlamydial qPCR.
| Source | CP # | Sample ID | Chlamydial qPCR | Sex qPCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW Koala Strategy | 24-04259-1 | AV06 K01 | Suspect | Male |
| NSW Koala Strategy | 24-04259-2 | AV05 K01 | Negative | Female |
| Avonside survey | 24-04259-3 | AV10 K01 | Negative | Male |
Unfortunately, one koala sampled returned a 'suspect' result for Chlamydial qPCR, which may translate to positive and may indicate that the Avonside population may not be completely free of infection as hoped.
Note that the suspect sample may also have been due to environmental contamination, and Local Land Services hope to follow this work up through the Cold country koalas project to complete further testing of many more scats and clarify the disease status of the population.
Funding and partnerships
Additional funding was received from the KHRP Commonwealth grant for the array survey and the NSW Koala Strategy supported habitat restoration works, disease survey and analysis, and density analysis of the array.
Local Land Services has worked closely with:
- NSW Koala Strategy
- National Parks and Wildlife Service
- Upper Snowy Landcare
- LAOKO Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue
- private landholders
- citizen scientists.
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