Stephen Brend (Western Port Biosphere), Kelly Smith (Koala Corridors), Michael Johnson (Moonlit Sanctuary) and friend at the launch of a project to extend koala habitat.
By Catherine Watson
WHO doesn’t love koalas? That cuddly frame and big baby ears, and their habit of lounging in a tree fork all day as if they’re watching trash TV. Tourists love them but so do Aussies.
But suddenly – or so it seems – this once common animal is under threat. The 2019-20 bushfires killed millions, but the decline had started well before then. In 2022 koalas were officially classified as endangered in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.
WHO doesn’t love koalas? That cuddly frame and big baby ears, and their habit of lounging in a tree fork all day as if they’re watching trash TV. Tourists love them but so do Aussies.
But suddenly – or so it seems – this once common animal is under threat. The 2019-20 bushfires killed millions, but the decline had started well before then. In 2022 koalas were officially classified as endangered in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.
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In Victoria, too, their numbers have declined sharply. Many of us grew up with koalas living around us. Now to spot one in a tree near you is a rare and thrilling event.
So this week’s launch of Koala Corridors at Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale was timely. A project of the Western Port Biosphere Foundation, it’s the brainchild of Kelly Smith, a Mornington Peninsula scientist who studied the genetic diversity of koalas as part of her degree. |
Koala Corridors
Kelly Smith will be at the Family Fun Day at the Grantville Hall on Sunday, November 24. She is keen to talk to local landowners about planting koala habitat. |
The first part of the project was mapping koalas. Over the past two years Kelly has led teams of volunteers through the nature reserves of the Western Port Woodlands looking for scat to locate koalas. Once common in the woodlands, they are now rare.
Volunteer koala scat hunters in Adams Creek Nature Conservation Reserve Next week, a drone with thermal imaging equipment will fly over the former Holden Proving Ground to try to locate koalas in the remnant woodland.
The second part of the project is extending koala habitat around the bay. The project offers support to landowners to plant koala-friendly wildlife corridors. The dream is that one day those corridors will link up and koalas can once again safely traverse the landscape.
That’s important. They’re not good in open country. They get attacked by dogs and even cattle. They get skittled on our roads, and if they’re confined in a small area they eat themselves out of house and home, killing the very trees they rely on for bed and board.
The second part of the project is extending koala habitat around the bay. The project offers support to landowners to plant koala-friendly wildlife corridors. The dream is that one day those corridors will link up and koalas can once again safely traverse the landscape.
That’s important. They’re not good in open country. They get attacked by dogs and even cattle. They get skittled on our roads, and if they’re confined in a small area they eat themselves out of house and home, killing the very trees they rely on for bed and board.
Koala numbers have declined sharply. At the launch, Fiona Smale described growing up in Pearcedale at a time when koalas roamed the district. It was normal to have a koala living in the backyard. Gradually they disappeared.
So when she heard about the Koala Corridors project earlier this year, she decided it was something she could do on her own 10 acres.
Over two days around 3000 trees were planted over a third of Fiona’s property – about three acres in total. It wasn’t just manna gums but a diversity of trees and understorey plants.
She could have left the planting to volunteers but Fiona enjoyed taking part. On day two, over 40 volunteers turned up and made short work of the job.
“It couldn’t have been easier. It was really well done. There was no pressure. I was told time and time again ‘It’s your property.’ They stuck to that.”
All going well, she says, in around five years’ time, she may once again see koalas living around her.
And regardless of whether koalas do arrive, it's a win for the environment and other species. As Pat McWhirter from Healesville to Phillip Island Nature Link put it, “People can’t picture biodiversity corridors but everyone can imagine a koala in a tree.”
So when she heard about the Koala Corridors project earlier this year, she decided it was something she could do on her own 10 acres.
Over two days around 3000 trees were planted over a third of Fiona’s property – about three acres in total. It wasn’t just manna gums but a diversity of trees and understorey plants.
She could have left the planting to volunteers but Fiona enjoyed taking part. On day two, over 40 volunteers turned up and made short work of the job.
“It couldn’t have been easier. It was really well done. There was no pressure. I was told time and time again ‘It’s your property.’ They stuck to that.”
All going well, she says, in around five years’ time, she may once again see koalas living around her.
And regardless of whether koalas do arrive, it's a win for the environment and other species. As Pat McWhirter from Healesville to Phillip Island Nature Link put it, “People can’t picture biodiversity corridors but everyone can imagine a koala in a tree.”