As part of your Private Native Forestry (PNF) Plan, Local Land Services will provide access to a map of the property showing areas classified as ‘High Koala Habitat Suitability’ (HKHS) on the PNF Koala Prescription Map
You must manage these areas in accordance with the koala prescriptions in Appendix A of the relevant Private Native Forestry Codes of Practice.
Requesting a review of high koala habitat suitability
If you think the PNF Koala Prescription Map of your property is inaccurate, including where the required number of koala feed trees cannot be found, you can request a review.
The disputed area:
- must be at least 2 ha in size
- must be contiguous forest not including other harvest exclusion areas,
- may be all or part of the area mapped as ‘High Koala Habitat Suitability’ on your property.
Review process overview
- Landholders can submit an application to Local Land Services (LLS) to request a review of mapped areas identified as high value koala habitat.
- LLS will conduct a desktop assessment and advise whether on-ground surveys can proceed.
- If an on-ground survey is required, a landholder may request access to a suitably qualified expert from LLS or engage a private consultant meeting the definition of a suitably qualified expert.
The on-ground survey will include a scoping survey and koala habitat quality survey. - The suitably qualified expert will complete an on-ground survey report using the template provided by LLS.
- Local Land Services will assess the survey report and notify the landholder in writing of the determination. If the PNF Koala Prescription Map over the property is amended, this will be provided to the landholder.
Complete the application and consent form
Email the Local Land Services Farm Forestry team on pnf.info@lls.nsw.gov.au to request an application and consent form.
Your application for review should include:
- names of landholders
- property address
- contact details
- PNF Plan number
- an annotated map showing the area(s) you would like reviewed
- details about why you consider the area mapped as High Koala Habitat Suitability (HKHS) to be inaccurate
- consent to conduct the surveys and assessments to process your application.
Our guide to using the spatial map viewer may help you to prepare a map for this purpose.
Desktop assessment
LLS will conduct a desktop assessment to determine the need for on-ground surveys. The desktop assessment will include a map based on the NSW Base Map (available on the SEED Portal) which identifies:
- the disputed area boundary (this may be approximate if only part of the area mapped as HKHS is disputed);
- the 500m limit around the disputed area in which records of koalas may impact operations within the disputed area; and
- NSW BioNet koala records that are less than 20 years old, valid and have a coordinate accuracy of 100 m or less.
Please note that the PNF Codes state that NSW BioNet records must have “a reliability level and/or Source Code of 1 to 4” but this terminology is no longer in use on BioNet.
If a koala record as described above is located in the disputed area or within 500 m of the disputed area, the koala prescriptions under the PNF Codes will apply. The PNF Koala Prescription Map will therefore be considered accurate and no further assessment will be warranted.
Where only some parts of the disputed area are within 500 m of a koala record, the disputed area boundary will be redefined to exclude these parts, but the remaining disputed area must be greater than 2 ha of contiguous forest (not including other harvest exclusion areas) to proceed to the next stage.
A copy of the desktop assessment report will be supplied to the landholder requesting the review.
On-ground survey
On-ground surveys must be conducted by a suitably qualified expert with a minimum undergraduate qualification in natural sciences, ecology, environmental management, forestry or similar from a university and with a minimum 3 years’ experience in environmental assessment (as defined in the Glossary of the PNF Codes).
A landholder may:
- request access to a suitably qualified expert from LLS. The assessment will be completed at no cost, in a timeframe determined by LLS; or
- engage a private consultant meeting the definition of a suitably qualified expert. Good commercial practices should be applied during the selection and management as the associated costs are the landholder’s responsibility.
All persons participating in onsite surveys will consider biosecurity risks (such as the transport of biosecurity matter to and from the property) and implement appropriate controls.
Where landholders have selected LLS to complete the review, LLS will issue a Landholder Access Deed to be signed and returned prior to conducting any on-ground survey work.
The map produced from the desktop assessment must be used to inform the placement of traverses in an on-ground scoping survey that maximises the likelihood of identifying koala feed trees.
The purpose of the scoping survey is to:
- accurately map the disputed area boundary using a GPS (with positional accuracy to 10 m or less) where only part of the area mapped as HKHS is disputed;
- explain the boundary conditions of the disputed area – for example, if a forested boundary coincides with a discernible difference in tree species assemblage, or if a natural or artificial feature represents a barrier to koala movement; and
- determine where koala feed trees are present and at highest stocking densities in the disputed area.
A minimum traverse effort of one hour per 5 ha of disputed area is required up to 40 ha (eight hours of traverse effort thereafter). The distance between parallel traverses may range from 50 to 100 m depending on vegetation density. Details of the scoping survey are to be recorded, including actual time taken to complete and a GPS track-log of traverses.
Once the scoping survey is complete, the on-ground koala habitat quality survey may be planned and conducted. The purpose of this survey is to quantify feed tree basal area and feed tree diversity for incorporation into a koala habitat quality score (based on habitat modelling outlined by Law et al.), a surrogate for koala habitat suitability.
The data collection procedure must follow the Point-Centred Quarter Method as follows:
Establish one 200 m transect per 10 ha of disputed area. Transects must occur wholly in the disputed area and must be planned to maximise sampling of koala feed trees observed during the scoping survey. Transects should be in mid to upper slopes, spaced approximately 500 m apart, and run parallel to each other or follow the contour. They can also run perpendicular to the contour at the half-way point to avoid crossing buffered creek lines and may also be adjusted to improve accessibility.
- Along each 200 m transect, stop every 20 m and place a marker that will form the centre point for sampling. The locations of these points must be recorded using a GPS.
- Use the four compass directions (N, E, W, S) to divide the sampling area into four quarters.
- In each quarter, record the distance to the nearest tree (regardless of species) that is greater than 20 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH, where breast height is 1.3m above the ground). Also record the tree species and its actual DBH.
- For each of the 40 trees measured per transect, enter distance to tree, tree species and DBH in the Koala Habitat Quality Score Calculator for the relevant PNF Code Region
The Koala Habitat Quality Score Calculator automatically categorizes tree species according to the table of primary and secondary koala feed trees in Appendix A of the relevant PNF Code. The feed tree list for each PNF Code Region includes all species listed across Koala Management Areas (KMA) in the Region; where a tree species was classified as primary in one KMA and secondary in another, the classification as primary was retained.
The calculator uses the following equations for tree stocking density, tree basal area, feed tree species diversity and koala habitat quality for each transect:
Transect stocking density (tree stems per ha) = 1/(d2)*10,000
where d is the mean point to stem distance along the transect.
Individual tree basal area = (π * diameter2)/4
Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H) = -∑pi * ln(pi)
where ln = natural log, pi = proportion of entire community made up of species i.
Transect Koala Habitat Quality Score ={ [(0.8*basal area of primary feed trees)
+ (0.4*basal area of secondary feed trees) + (0*basal area of all other trees)] 0.6
+ [site Class 1 & 2 feed tree Shannon-Wiener diversity] 0.2 } / 10
While targeted koala surveys are not required, incidental detections of koala signs (sightings of individuals and site evidence of presence) during on-ground surveys must be recorded and reported.
Where the following signs are detected in or within 500 m of the disputed area, the PNF Koala Prescription Map will be considered accurate and no further assessment will be warranted.
- A koala.
- Ten or more koala scats beneath the canopy of a primary koala feed tree or secondary koala feed tree.
- One or more koala scats beneath the canopy of a primary koala feed tree or secondary koala feed tree in the Southern NSW PNF Code Region or in the Central and Southern Tablelands Koala Management Area in all other PNF Code Regions.
Where only some parts of the disputed area are within 500 m of one of the above koala signs, the disputed area boundary will be redefined to exclude these parts, but the remaining disputed area must be greater than 2 ha of contiguous forest (not including other harvest exclusion areas) to proceed with the assessment.
Reporting
The suitably qualified expert must complete the On-ground Survey Report to recommend whether an amendment to the PNF Koala Prescription Map over the disputed area is warranted.
In the absence of koala signs that meet the criteria for applying PNF Koala Prescriptions across the whole of the disputed area, this recommendation must be based on the Koala Habitat Quality Score(s) resulting from the on-ground survey.
All transects in the disputed area must have a score less than the threshold for the relevant PNF Code Region for the disputed area to be reassessed as not being of High Koala Habitat Suitability under the PNF Koala Prescription Map.
Thresholds were set by assessing modelled Koala Habitat Suitability Scores in areas with breeding females and typical koala densities and relating this to Koala Habitat Quality scores from transects across 65 sites.
Regional variation in thresholds were made based on typical basal areas of koala feed trees in each region.
The Koala Habitat Quality Score thresholds for each PNF Code Region are:
- 0.28 in the Northern NSW and Southern NSW PNF Code Regions
- 0.25 in the River Red Gum PNF Code Region.
- 0.10 in the Cypress and Western Hardwood PNF Code Region.
If only one transect was required for a disputed area, and:
- the score was below the relevant threshold, the disputed area should not be classified as HKHS.
- the score was at or above the relevant threshold, the disputed area should be classified as HKHS.
If multiple transects were required for a disputed area, and:
- all transects scored below the relevant threshold, the whole of the disputed area should not be classified as HKHS
- some transects scored below the relevant threshold, the disputed area boundary may be redefined to include only areas where transects fell below the relevant threshold; the redefined disputed area should therefore not be classified as HKHS
- all transects scored at or above the relevant threshold, the whole of the disputed area should be classified as HKHS.
Private consultants are to submit completed reports with required attachments to pnf.info@lls.nsw.gov.au.
Determination
Local Land Services will check reports for completeness against the requirements of the Assessor Checklist. The assessor will be independent of both the landholder and suitably qualified expert.
If the assessor determines that the requirements of this protocol have not been satisfactorily addressed, LLS will advise the applicant in writing that the PNF Koala Prescription Map will not be amended.
If the assessor determines that the requirements of this protocol have been satisfactorily addressed, the amended property map will be taken to be the PNF Koala Prescription Map for the purpose of the PNF Codes.
Local Land Services will provide the applicant with the amended map to show any revised areas of HKHS over their property under an approved PNF Plan. The applicant must use the amended map in the preparation of any new Forest Management Plans required under the PNF Codes. If a Forest Management Plan required under the PNF Codes already exists, the amended map will apply only once the landholder applies to amend the current plan, and this is subsequently approved by LLS. Until the amended plan is approved, the original PNF Koala Prescription Map applies.
The applicant must provide a person carrying out forestry operations on the landholding with a copy of the amended map and any other related information provided by LLS, prior to forestry operations commencing.
In areas where the mapping of HKHS has been removed, all other criteria that invoke the koala prescriptions will continue to apply as per the relevant PNF Code.
Contact Local Land Services NSW
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