Koala habitat restoration and protection in the Northern Tablelands

Local Land Services are doing on-ground works to ensure koala habitat protection and revegetation. 

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Koala habitat restoration and protection project in the Northern Tablelands

(birds chirping)

(gentle music)

(goose honking)

(bright music)

My name's Jock Nivison.

I'm a sixth generation landholder in Walcha.

So we're currently on the property Yalgoo

sitting next to Grosses Creek.

We're pretty serious about our responsibility

in terms of looking after the land

we wanna so I know it's a cliche,

but run a sustainable business on all levels.

And a big part of that sustainability is improving

the ecosystem and the natural capital of our farm

for future generations.

So we engaged in a project with the LLS

to create a riparian zone,

which was also gonna be used for koala habitat.

And we acknowledged that we're in a koala significant area.

It'd be a pretty cool thing for our grandkids to walk

through the bush on our farm

and still find some koalas around.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music)

So I'm Tanya Arentz

Yeah, I do koala care and rescue in the New England area

for WIRES.

This one up here, this is a large male

that regularly frequents this area.

His name is Gum Leaves.

He's, yeah, one of our resident males

that frequently comes and goes, makes his presence known

at night, obviously, particularly this time of year.

(bright music continues) (birds chirping)

I had a time period where I was confined to the house

and came to realize that I had koalas on my property

because I spent a lot of time wandering around the property

and discovered one was sick.

And then found out that there was limited people in the area

to be able to come and rescue that.

So I thought that it was time that something was done.

So I jumped online and did the WIRES rescue

and immediate care course.

And once I completed the online course for rescue

and immediate care, then I continued on

and did the koala specific course.

(bright music continues) (feet crunching)

Our tree plantings have been done within the local ARK,

which is the area of regional koala significance,

and that's an area that's designated for funding.

It's been identified as having a koala population.

And so through being in that ARK,

we had access to funding for our tree planting.

I've come to know probably about 15 to 20

that are regularly in this area.

So quite a good healthy little population

liking the gully areas, obviously with the water

and the moisture.

So they seem to be enjoying that.

If you get a habitat right for koalas, it's also right

for a lot of other endangered species

that also need habitat rejuvenation.

(sheep bleating)

(rooster crowing)

Today we're here at Evergrow Farm,

second day after a big tree planting yesterday.

So we've been able (drill whirring)

to get in about up to 900 trees.

And the purpose is that we specifically wanted

to incorporate a little nature reserve

into our market gardening model.

Very appreciative to have the trees in.

All we've gotta do now is water the 900.

(bright music continues)

So what we've done here is we have gained funding

to fence out about 10 acres of our 50 acre farm,

which is quite a undertaking.

We see the koalas as a real indicator of bringing back

that spirit and community to the land here.

It's lovely to hear the koalas at night.

We have a large male that this is his territory.

I call him Mr. Matilda, and he was back here last night.

(bright music continues)

So you see the reestablishment of planting

and whatnot the great significance to us.

Yaka Susan, I've with Newara Aboriginal Corporation,

and today we're working with the Armidal Tree Group

in a project that's been funding

with the local land services to help plant some trees

that will assist the rlawayna, which is the Anaiwan word

for koalas and their habitat.

(Joshua speaking in first nations language)

At Newara we're predominantly a language hub,

however, we do run different types of cultural workshops

and programs throughout the Anaiwan community.

We're also lucky enough to have some of our own land

out here on Binya,

where we hold safe spaces for our mob to come out

and run these types of programs,

but also to to connect to country, to look after country,

which is what we're doing out here

with the Koala program today.

But also to just to allow mob to come out here

and just reconnect.

So very, very lucky. (bright music continues)

Project objectives

This project will:

• create 50 hectares of new koala habitat
• improve the quality of habitat across a further 60 hectares
• deliver 340 ha of targeted weed management
• build skills and knowledge of community to take up ground koala conservation actions.

Project background

The Koala (Phascolarctus cinereus) is an iconic Australian species found over a vast yet highly fragmented range of eastern Australia. Koalas are listed as vulnerable to extinction in the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 and the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act,1995. The NSW Recovery Plan for the Koala states that the species status on the Northern Tablelands is unknown.

Project delivery

• Revegetation of native koala habitat.
• Supporting natural regeneration of habitat.
• Improved grazing management practices.
• Weed control and management.
• Community awareness and engagement.

Work underway

This project builds upon previous work with koalas in the Northern Tablelands, including Northern Tablelands cool country koalas project. 

Local Land Services is working to:

• understand the threats to and locations of Northern Tablelands koala populations
• support other community groups who give their time to care for koalas who are sick or in need
• reduce threats to koala populations
• address habitat loss
• treating lantana, blackberry, and hawthorn
• create awareness about the need to help koalas.

How to get involved

Local Land Services are encouraging everyone on the Northern Tablelands to log their koala sightings, using the inaturalist app. Community members logging their koala sightings will create a better idea of where koalas live in the Northern Tablelands, and how that changes over time.