Additional tree preservation areas will be created in the Tweed as an interim measure to protect the area’s koala population, following last week’s adoption of Council’s Tweed Coast Koala Habitat
Study.
The study, received at the recent Council meeting, defines the Tweed Coast’s current koala population and maps its remaining habitat. It also maps key threats to Tweed Coast koalas, identifies sites suitable for habitat restoration and outlines some of the measures needed to preserve the remaining populations.
The habitat study has been prepared by Biolink Ecological Consultants with assistance from the Tweed Coast Koala Advisory Group and is the first of two stages for a Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management for the Tweed Coast
As an immediate measure to protect the Tweed Coast koala population, the meeting resolved to create a tree preservation order in line with the habitat study’s recommendations.
The order will apply to 1870 hectares of “important” koala habitat which was not covered by earlier tree preservation orders in 1990 and 2004. It takes the total area covered to 9760 hectares.
Landholders would be required to gain consent for vegetation clearing in these areas.
The order will also cover any koala food trees – swamp mahogany, forest red-gum, tallowwood and grey gum – more than 3m tall within a 5km strip along the full length of the Tweed Shire coastline.
The Council meeting resolved to release the habitat study to the public and to promote its findings.
The elected members also voted to proceed with stage two of the comprehensive plan of management.
Council’s Biodiversity Program Leader, Dr Mark Kingston, said the habitat study was a major step in identifying the plight faced by the Tweed Coast koala population.
“Its current status would justify its nomination as an endangered population, with numbers already below the minimum viable population size of 170 individuals,” Dr Kingston said.
“The next stage, creating the Koala Plan of Management, will provide the vital steps to curb and reverse the population’s rapid decline.”
A prominent campaigner for Tweed Coast koala protection, Team Koala founder and advisory group member Jenni Hayes, said the study’s completion was a fantastic step towards protecting the endangered population.
“Now we are dealing with statistics and facts. We were speculating that koala numbers were diminishing at a rapid rate and now we have facts,” Ms Hayes said.
“I’m in awe of the work Biolink’s Dr Stephen Phillips has done in preparing this study.
“The fact the councillors adopted the study unanimously is extremely heartening. Now we need to get the facts out to the community.
“The immediate protection provided by this new tree preservation order is incredibly important. There has been a lot of discussion and now we need action.”
Another campaigner and advisory group member, Friends of the Koala president Lorraine Vass, also welcomed the tree preservation order.
“We’re pleased the penny has finally dropped and the dire situation of the coast’s remaining koalas is at last understood and accepted by Council,” she said.
“Local extinction is a real possibility. When the consultant proposes the current status would likely meet the criteria for listing as an endangered population, there can be no doubt.”
