A report (just released) by renowned koala ecologist Steve Phillips paints a grim picture for the last remaining koalas on the Tweed Coast.
Until the last few years, the area between Terranora and Pottsville supported several koala colonies surviving in the wild. This latest study finds that their numbers have now halved!
At an estimated total population of only 144, their long-term survival now hangs precariously in the balance.
But they CAN BE SAVED. With a few practical measures, this report explains how we can increase their number to 170 – the population needed for long-term viability.
Their decline (in order of fatality) has been caused by recent coastal fires, motor accidents and, lastly, dog attacks (that happen unseen or unheard in isolated bushland).
It is now vital that we focus on their habitat – this means preserving the areas where we know they still live and breed. Koala habitat areas are now protected under State law but astonishingly the Tweed Shire Council DOES NOT HAVE any form of koala management plan to identify and preserve these areas!
Our Tweed Coast koalas are a remarkably enduring bunch. The study has sighted three generations of koalas making their homes and living in the same location. When our koalas find a good place to live – like many of us in this beautiful area – they stay put.
This will be the key to their survival.
Like us, they keep a certain distance from their neighbour but still require another colony nearby to make the whole “finding a mate and starting a family thing” work out.
Basically they just love their patch – and they’ve been this way for thousands of years. So who are we to think that “relocation” is an option (it’s been tried and it failed)?
We’re left with the simple choice – do we want koalas on the Tweed or not?
The study has found that only three colonies remain that are big enough and have enough food trees to sustain koalas. It strongly recommends the following measures be put in place with urgency.
1. Tree preservation orders throughout the shire for the (only four) tree types koalas eat.
2. When fires do occur in their known neighborhoods, protect them by putting the fire out (not just ‘controlling’ it) to prevent a repeat of 2009 when a major koala area at Cudgen was incinerated – and the koalas with it.
3. Speed controls and/or effective underpasses on roads koalas must cross to reach other colonies or to search for juicier food trees.
4. Keep them well fed and safe closer to home by augmenting their forests (and the surrounding area) with koalas’ favourite trees.
5. Draw up a Koala Management Plan that outlines the most strategic and effective ways to put these measures into action.
Finally – and this shouldn’t have to be said – any new developments on land close to known koala colonies must adopt ‘best practice’ koala friendly measures. These are not difficult or costly (in the big scheme) and they are well known and well tried, with positive results.
So, although reading this might make saving our koalas all sound quite simple, be assured koalas WILL BE GONE FROM THE TWEED if you do no more than just read this letter.
Marion Riordan
Condong
