Koala News

with Lorraine Vass

Protecting Koala Habitat

Recently the Friends of the Koala members and neighbours planted about 500 koala food trees on a private property on Marom Creek Road. A further 800 to 1000 trees will be planted on adjoining properties in the next few months.

Habitat restoration and extension is a core part of FOK's business. Members collect seeds from trees in which koalas have been sighted and they are propagated under the supervision of the Trees Officer in our own nursery. Since 1990 nearly 80,000 food trees have been grown, 50,000 of which have been distributed gratis to landholders. Approximately 10,000 have been planted by FOK and the rest sold to help finance our other programs.

Many landowners have introduced or re-introduced a variety of eucalypt species onto their land over the past 20 or 30 years. Conservation of koala habitat is still the primary means of supporting populations and is essential to their long-term survival.

In 1995 the NSW State Government enacted State Environmental Planning Policy No. 44 – Koala Habitat Protection (SEPP 44) to underpin management of the State's dwindling koala populations. This SEPP applies a test to assess whether land is potential or core koala habitat. If it is, the land must be mapped, a plan of management completed and approval to develop sought from the State Government.

The Draft Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management (DCKPoM) for the south-eastern portion of the Lismore Local Government Area has been formulated under this SEPP so that local conditions can be taken into account. SEPP 44 could have been replaced across the entire study area. Instead, because of resistance from some landowners concerned about there being too much regulation on rural land, the area has been divided into two zones, which will be treated differently. In the Lismore vicinity (mainly urban) the CKPoM will replace the State policy and Council's LEP 2000 will clarify where and how development may occur. The Rural south-east will remain subject to the provisions of the SEPP 44 legislation.

Feedback from developers in other local government areas where Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management have been introduced indicate that money and time have been saved and uncertainty removed. So, does the proposed differentiated approach make sense to you?

Council is inviting submissions on the Draft Plan until October 31. It can be viewed at Council's Goonellabah and Magellan Street offices, or it can be downloaded from the Council website at www.lismore.gov.au. Tell Council what you think.

Please call the Friends of the Koala Rescue and Information line on 6622 1233 if you see a koala at risk. For other wildlife call Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers on 6628 1866.