treetops - friends of the koala inc. · plantation development, ... many different and some...

Licensed by the Office of Environment and Heritage to rescue, rehabilitate and release koalas—Licence No. MWL000100225. ABN. 69322819171

Fundraising authority CFN 17840 P.O. Box 5034, East Lismore NSW 2480 . Phone 02 6622 1233 . www.friendsofthekoala.org. The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of ‘Friends of the Koala’ Inc.

Treetops How Razor Bob got the better of me......for a while!

I t's interesting to look back on your life to when you made an apparently

insignificant decision and how you have changed, or perhaps more correctly, developed as a result of it.

Nine years ago I glanced at a small article in The Echo featuring Rick Vass with a bi-line "Seeking volunteer leaf collectors". I was at the time in my life where I was able to devote more time and energy to other interests and so I dived into FOK.

The change that was coming was due in part to my interest and also the progres-sive caring community of volunteers in FOK. Opportunities were placed in front of me and some I explored. What began as just leaf collecting expanded to res-cue, committee member (even Vice President in 2012-13), Vet visits, koala necropsy examination, tissue collection, plantation development, community and school education programs and speaking

to and negotiating with local govern-ment. Of all my FOK experiences, how-ever, rescue is constant, re-warding and challenging. I have been to many different and some excit-ing rescues, but none as bizarre as my moment with Razor Bob.

Every koala rescue is differ-ent. A previous Care Coordinator and experienced rescuer, Barb Dobner taught that before you attempt a rescue, you should take a moment to just breath and collect yourself, because the koala will not be predictable.

So there I was at the Dunoon Electrical sub-station looking at a young male koala sitting on top of a 3 metre steel grid fence inside a hoop of razor wire. I shook my head in utter amazement, took out my rescue equipment and in-troduced myself to Bob 1 and Bob 2 , Essential Energy workers. I then stood back to assess the horrible situation.

This koala at the very least, I thought, will be possibly cut to shreds by the ra-zor wire or fried if it escapes into the electricity compound. My strategy was to have Bob 1 (who was on the inside of the compound) climb his lad-der, separate and tie back the razor wire thus exposing a hole on the outside of the compound fence for the koala to escape through. Bob 1 proceeded to do as I requested and immediately got nicked by the unforgiving razor wire. This done, Bob 2 was then asked to gen-tly prod the Koala to encourage him towards the escape hole, with me wait-ing expectantly on the outside with koa-la catching equipment.

Now I remember noting the 30 metre high concrete pole abutting the inside of the razor wire, positioned half way be-tween the koala and the escape hole we had created. How could anyone miss it? It simply didn’t occur to me that he would attempt to jump though the razor wire and then have a go at climbing a solid smooth concrete pole.

So we began, with three humans on the ground seeking to capture him, the koala does what I should have but did not ex-pect, that is to see escape from these

nasty hu-mans as anything up and high.

With a gen-tle prod from Bob 2, the koala walked along the top of the fence inside the razor

wire hoop till he was abreast of the con-crete pole and made a large leap through the razor wire onto the pole. Here two things happen. The razor wire is not that forgiving, and the concrete pole is un-climbable. So now I have a horrible situ-ation progress to a terrible situation. The koala is now hanging by one limb on the razor wire, while his rear paws have lost contact with the top of the main fence.

After a quick reassessment, signing in triplicate for OH&S and donning a bright yellow hard hat, I gained entry to the compound. I managed to encourage the koala through the razor wire while he was still trying to cling the concrete pole on the inside of the compound and land him in a rescue net-bag and then into the rescue cage.

And thus Razor Bob came into our care, named after the two Essen-

Continued p5

What’s Inside

» President’s Message ............................. 2

» Care Centre Coordinator’s Report ........ 3

» Koala Care Statistics ............................. 3

» Spring has Sprung ................................. 4

» Zoe’s Story ........................................ 4,5

» Jabara the Brave Koala ......................... 5

» Nursery News ....................................... 5

» Leaf Harvesting Co-ordinator’s Report 6

» Green Army Update .............................. 6

»Looking to the future ............................ 7

»Communications Survey ...................... 7

»Treasurer Wanted ................................. 7

»Management Committee Positions ....... 8

» Annual General Meeting....................... 9

» Saving Ballina’s Koalas ...................... 10

» Advocacy and Policy Reform ............. 10

» Tregeagle News .................................. 11

» Koala Connections in Tweed .............. 11

» Friends of the Koala’s Partners and Sponsors .............................................. 12

» Koala Health Hub ............................... 12

» Macadamia Castle’s Animal Park ...... 12

» Bulletin Board ..................................... 13

» QTFN Private Land Conservation Con ference................................................. 14

» Member Profile – Yasmin Cabot ....... .14

» Application/Renewal Form ................. 15

» Contact Details ................................... 15

Razor Bob in the wire … and in care...

Friends of the Koala 1989 - 2015 - 26 years of licensed koala rehabilitation

Treetops … the Newsletter of Friends of the Koala Inc. September 2015

W hat’s happened to the presump-tion of a “fair go” in our country?

I’m not naïve enough to think that eve-ryone felt they had a fair go, but more than fewer did.

These days our gov-ernment doesn’t want to hear what most of us have to say. Con-fining these remarks to environmental matters, first the Environmen-tal Defender’s Office was defunded, then Federal environment staffers faced the fir-

ing line and the Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Herit-age Organisation programme was axed. Next up was the attack on our tax de-ductibility status and now our right to object in the courts on matters we be-lieve are contravening the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conserva-tion Act is under scrutiny. You’d have to laugh if it wasn’t so in-anely reactionary. The Federal Court rejected a coal mine approval that was unlawfully issued. The government de-scribed the challenge as “legal sabo-tage”, claiming an avalanche of “vigilante litigation”.

How many environmental or community groups can you name that have gone to court? Out of 5,500 projects referred to the Minister for assessment under the EPBC Act since it came into force in 2000, 27 have been subject to legal chal-lenge. Six succeeded but only two pro-jects have been stopped.

There’s absolutely no evidence to sug-gest that the EPBC Act needs to be changed. Indeed the provision that is proposed for repeal, section 487 which enables Australian people and organisa-tions who have a recent history of in-volvement in conservation or research to have access to the Courts, has been widely praised. In 2012 the Independent Commission Against Corruption, for example, said that third party appeal rights reduces the risk of corruption and gives the community confidence that decisions are being made for the right reasons.

The Act is currently based on the as-sumption that all of us have an interest in the health of the environment and the proper enforcement of our national envi-ronmental laws. Getting rid of section 487 would mean that the community at large would have no recourse where error has occurred. It would also shift

President’s Message the focus of any proceedings to whether a person had a right to be in Court, ra-ther than focusing on potential environ-mental harm.

We can only hope that common sense will prevail and the amendment defeat-ed.

In the meantime, Upper Mooki Land-care’s challenge to the approval of Shenhua’s Watermark coal mine on the Liverpool Plains concluded on 3 Sep-tember. The case was heard over four days in the NSW Land and Environment Court. The Court has reserved judgment, so we expect it’ll be some time before we know the fate of the locality’s koala population.

Here on the home front Spring is in the air and we’re hearing koala noises most nights. While we listen out for the grunts and screams, this time of year means death and destruction for too many.

Road kill is second to disease in the Northern Rivers’ koala mortality stakes. During the 2014-2015 reporting year we lost 55 koalas to vehicle strikes; the year before accounted for 56.

Koalas are killed on our roads because so many of them bisect home ranges or the movement corridors for dispersing animals. Koalas won’t change their ranging behaviour so it’s the approach to road design and our road use behaviour in high risk areas that must change if road mortalities and injuries are to be reduced.

Let’s take a minute to consider what running over a koala really means. Koa-las can be on our roads at any time but most hits occur at night when the ani-mals are more active and they are more difficult to see. A koala might already be on the road, crossing from one side to the other. Picked up by the car’s head-lights, the motorist has a chance of tak-ing evasive action, unless speed is an issue. More often than not a koala sud-denly bounds out of the bush without warning. The motorist may or may not see it; sometimes may not even be aware that the animal has gone under the car or been clipped.

Those motorists who are aware that they’ve hit a koala are usually extremely distressed as was the one who called the Hotline a few weeks ago. The hit koala was momentarily stunned but quickly sprinted up a near-by tree. Susannah, who had taken the call, agreed to go out to check the animal’s state. The caller said he had some paint in the back of his ute and would mark the road where the koala was perched.

Lorraine Vass

There was no way Susannah could miss it – the arrow was painted halfway across the road, pointing to a tree on which was written “KOALA”. Sure enough, just above the writing sat an apparently healthy male, displaying no obvious signs of injury.

She left him alone for the evening and arranged to meet the caller at the site next morning. The koala had climbed further up the tree and looked fine. Still devastated by the experience the caller took some solace in Susan-nah’s assurances that he’d done all he could. Later in the day when Susannah checked the koala again the koala had moved on.

As road-hits go the outcome of this inci-dent was better than most, but the fact remains that changing driver behaviour is a major challenge involving aware-ness raising through appropriate road signage, driver and speed monitoring and community education and engage-ment.

As well as the usual eclectic assemblage of koala news, this issue of Treetops includes the notice for our AGM on Wednesday 21 October and information on the positions which will be elected on the night.

This year has been a particularly busy one for the Management Committee and I thank all our office-bearers and gen-eral members who have worked so dili-gently throughout the year to ensure that we are well governed and striving for new goals and achievements.

Koala conservation is demanding on all levels, but none more than the care of those koalas that depend on our help. This being Save the Koala month I sin-cerely thank all our koala carers and rescuers. Your compassion for these beautiful creatures too often drives you way beyond the call of duty.

—Lorraine Vass

Not to be missed — koala in tree



Care Centre

Co-ordinator’s Report

W e’re back to being

very busy at the Care Centre. The spring quarter always sees a marked increase in admittances and this year is no exception. As well as more koalas, this time

of the year seems to bring more visitors – international tourists, overseas stu-dents studying at Southern Cross, and local schools.

Just this week, for example, the entire Larnook Public School visited the Cen-tre to learn more about koalas and our work.

Larnook is one of the six schools partici-pating in the Goolmangar School Koala Community Connections Eco Schools Project. Since the koala workshop held

Lola Whitney

at the Dorroughby Environment Educa-tion Centre at the end of May, Larnook students have really taken koala conser-vation to heart. They’ve made posters drawing attention to the threats that koa-las face, colourful badges to sell, they’ve distributed koala food trees and even learned the John Williamson favourite, “Goodbye Blinky Bill”, which they sang for us during their visit.

To date the school has raised over $150 for koala conservation – a tremendous effort for its 28 students, especially keeping in mind that Lismore is about the same num-ber of kilometres away as the number of students.

On 22 August we had a great day at the Lis-more City Hall as part of the second annual Arts Vs Science Festi-val. Bringing together National Science Week, the Northern Rivers’ annual 'Arts in August' and the Big Scrub Rainfor-est Day, there was plenty to do with in-novative arts/science presentations and

big scrub themes, a communi-ty tree planting on the riverbank and live music.

Byron’s Volunteer Expo on 17 September at the Community Centre was another fun event that generated quite a bit of interest in our work. Partici-pating in the Bay’s community events is a bit of a stretch so many thanks to Wendy Reyn-olds, Jane Tascalis and Lyn Olive for sharing the work-load.

Talking of work-sharing, although we have more than 50 volunteers on our regular weekly roster, we need many more. Some of our wonderful student volunteers will be off home for the sum-mer vacation very soon. The four-month hole they’ll leave is a big challenge be-cause the summer months are so very busy for us. Changes to the organisation of various government employment pro-grams have also created a few problems which should be rectified very soon.

So, I would like to thank all our hard-

working volunteers whether they’re res-cuing and caring for koalas at the Care Centre or in home-care, collecting leaf, planting and managing plantations, man-ning the 24/7 rescue hotline, helping in the nursery, writing grant applications or submissions, talking to community groups and schools – or donating money or materials.

This reminds me. A very big thank you to Ken Wakefield for so generously do-nating a large roll of shade cloth and a large number of Colorbond roofing sheets; no doubt the enclosures will need a bit of seasonal “tweaking” through the hot summer months ahead.

—Lola Whitney

Koala Care Statistics 27 May 2015 – 31 August 2015

Friends of the Koala attended to or provided advice on a total of 162 koalas

In Care

Released Died Dead on Arrival

Euth. Unable to find/capt.

Transfer Advice

Injured (5) 1 3 1

HBC– Road strike (15) 1 1 7 2 4

Dog attack (1) 1

Diseased/Sick (55) 2 5 4 4 25 13 2

Health status un- known /unrecorded (14)

4 5 5

Healthy/Assumed Healthy (62)

1 7 54

Orphans/joeys (9) 3 6

Permanent Care (1) 1

Totals (162) 10

18 8 15 28 22 61

Trees Officer, Mark Wilson, tpresenting to Larnook students



Spring has Sprung

N o matter what the calendar tells you, in the world of Northern Riv-

ers’ koalas, spring arrived many weeks ago. We had been pretty busy during the start of winter with a slow flow of both male and female koalas coming to ground due to sickness but from late July, when the warm days started, we have had a run of really interesting res-cues, some of which we can attribute to dominant males asserting them-selves on the juvenile boys and girls. I’d like to share just a few with you.

During July I was called out to Dorroughby, which is about 18 kms north-east of Lismore. A family had come across a juvenile girl hanging onto a downpipe on their verandah. “Precious” was quiet and unresponsive so I took her home, gave her some leaf and went to bed. The following day, she was bright as a but-ton and after a thorough vet check and ear tag, was given the all clear. She was released the following day.

A few weeks later, Rick Stewart was sent on a rescue to end all rescues (see lead story) resulting in a beautifully healthy, uninjured juvenile boy being released a few days later, no worse for wear.

During that same week, Pat and I were called out to Byron Bay in response to a call from a National Parks Ranger. He and his co-

workers had been observing a young male who seemed to have been pushed from his home range by the dominant male. Unfortunately, this koala was pushed into an area where there were no food trees (he also had mild conjunctivitis).

When we arrived, we were told he was east of the Lighthouse. He was quite literally at the eastern most point of the country – any further east and he would have been in New Zealand! With the help of three rangers, “Byron” was cap-tured and brought into care. After his rather stressful rescue (hundreds of tour-ists talking loudly and taking pictures), he was understandably stressed and

whatt difficult to treat. He was released back at the Bay amongst a lovely patch of food trees a few weeks ago, with a clean bill of health and in an area away from the hustle and bustle of the town.

The following week, a young girl came in after a very unfortunate series of events. “Taylor” was chased by a male up a tree and onto a branch, which broke,

falling onto the road be-neath where she was run over by two cars. Talk about bad luck! She’s still not out of the woods. Her broken pel-vis is being treated at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital.

No Sunday sleep-in for Rick Stewart. He was called out again in early August to attend a young girl up a telegraph pole on the busy Bruxner Highway in suburban

Goonellabah. She was brought into care after another skilful capture and thank-fully had nothing wrong with her. “Jasmine Rose” was released in a quieter part of town and didn’t hesitate to sprint up the tree she was offered.

A month later, back to Byron Bay for another young male; this one taking a snooze in a Pandanus tree outside the Beach Hotel. Where had he come from? Where was he going? He was very popu-lar with the locals and tourists but wasn’t interested in obliging us when we tried to flag him down. He was seen later that night heading home to a group of food trees through a building site. We hope

he made it al-right.

And finally, two weeks ago, a young boy was spotted in a small tree at the corner of Wyral-lah and Dalley Roads in subur-ban Lismore. “Frank” is now in care and awaiting a clear bill of health

before we send him on his way.

So keep your eyes open friends – the koalas are on the move. And spare a thought for the little juvenile boys and girls whose education in koala territorial politics comes so hard and fast!

—Susannah Keogh

Jasmine Rose sitting tight on her telegraph pole

Pandanus snoozer

A ll too often, how koalas adapt to their new environment when re-

leased after their time in care is un-known. Whilst Stage 10 of the Wool-goolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Up-grade is causing concern amongst the koala-caring community, the koala pop-ulation viability study required by Fed-eral Environment Minister Greg Hunt, has produced some important infor-mation for understanding the local koala population.

To help meet this requirement, Roads & Maritime Services engaged Biolink and Ecosure to survey koalas to obtain more information of local koala demographics and genetics. Zoe, a koala released in the study area was found, captured and released. Thanks to this project, we have the wonderful story of Zoe, we know where she is and how she is going al-most 8 years on. This is Zoe’s story …

Early on the morning of 27 January 2015, during my regular search for koa-las, I saw a beautiful girl sitting in the fork of a Forest Red Gum looking down at me. I thought “a perfect tree for set-ting the trap to catch her”. When I came back to set the trap she was gone. Being a very hot day I decided to look away from the food trees in some nearby re-growth. There she was, sitting in the shade of a Sandpaper Fig, again looking down at me.

When the rest of the capture team ar-rived, we decided that she was low enough in the tree that we could use the flag and pole to catch her. She respond-ed perfectly to the flag, just what we like to see, coming straight down and into my hands. To our surprise a tag was hiding in her ear. To our greater sur-prise, it was not a Friends of Koala tag but a Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers ear tag.

Zoe was brought into Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers on the 27th February 2007. It was assumed that her mother was killed during the same road incident on Clothier’s Creek Road in the Tweed that injured her, and left her as an 800 gram back young without a mother. Zo-e’s injuries included a fractured upper palate, making eating difficult.

Zoe spent some time at Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital where her injuries were treated. She was then rehabilitated by Sue Johnston a member of both Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers and Friends of the Koala as this was the time when Continued p5

Zoe’s Story: thanks to the

Highway koala study



tial Energy workers without whose good work the rescue would not have succeeded.

Much to our amazement, no scratch or razor wound could be found by the vet. A close shave!

But why was this koala climbing into an electrical sub-station? Maybe you can explain his strange behaviour. I’ve got no idea.

Razor Bob was released a week later into better habitat just outside Dunoon. I wish him well and hope we don't meet again.

—Rick Stewart

I have found koalas to be fascinating for most of my life (I’m now 12 years

old); well at least for as long as I can remember.

I had the chance to watch my dad catch-ing and radio-tracking koalas on the Gold Coast over the past seven years and I often look back at photos of my mum and I sitting in a park near Dream-world watching dad anaesthetize and examine koalas and thinking how beau-tiful they were. I’ve also had the chance to help dad and Steve Phillips to survey for koalas in the Pilliga forests between Coonabarabran and Narrabri and at Dunbogan near Port Macquarie, which was amazing and has helped me to learn more about koalas and how they use their habitat and how vulnerable they are.

I was lucky enough to join dad and Ma-ria when they set traps one evening for koalas at Red Lane on the Alstonville Plateau as part of a project to assess potential impacts on koalas from the planned Highway upgrade around Wardell.

Early the next morning we went to check on the traps and we had caught a lovely little boy. When dad and Maria examined him they discovered that he had conjunctivitis in his left eye, but thankfully he seemed healthy otherwise.

Dad phoned Pat at the Friends of the Koala Care Centre in Lismore and we were soon on our way with the little sweetie. Pat met us when we arrived and when she was filling out his admission details she kindly asked if I would like him to share my name ‘Jabara’. I thought it would be great to have a koala named after me and it made me feel very happy and privileged.

Little Jabara did really well in care at the Centre and he was a hit with all the carers. When he had finished his treat-ment and his eye was cleared Pat asked dad if I would like to come along for his release back at Red Lane. I was excited to see him again. I could tell that he had

From p1

grown over his month in care and he was sniffing the air. He looked keen to go.

As soon as I opened the carry cage door, he was off up his tree like a rocket. It was great to see him back in his home again with lots of stories to tell the other koalas in his little group. Thanks to Pat and Susannah and all the volunteers that took such great care of him. I hope he is proud of his name, like me. It means the brave one.

—Jabara Callaghan

Jabara the Brave Koala Friends of the Koala had been

invited by Tweed Valley to take over their koala work.

Following her rehabilitation, Zoe was soft-released, with Japara, also an or-phaned koala, from Coraki Road, Ruth-ven. The soft release enclosure was set up at Gwen Seznec and Rick Easton’s at Bagotville-Meerschaum Vale, so that the young ones’ progress could be moni-tored before their final release back into the wild.

On 30 Au-gust 2007, Zoe and Japara were released from the enclosure. They were on their own. In August 2008 Gwen saw Zoe with a joey on her back. She saw Zoe a few times after that but had not seen her for a num-ber of years.

When we caught Zoe, seven and a half years after her release, we weighed her and gave her an anaesthetic, before tak-ing eye and genital swabs to check her health, a hair sample for toxicology work, and an overall health and condi-tion assessment. Showing no signs of disease, Zoe’s overall health appeared good. She weighed in at 7.3 kg, and was given a condition score of 7. She may have had another young within the last couple of years, as one of her teats was elongated. I have seen Zoe a couple of times since we caught her and she is still cruising around between Gwen and Rick’s place and at their neighbours. Zoe has shown us that she established herself near her release site and has become part of the local population, contributing to future generations.

The genetic study being undertaken as part of this project may reveal Zoe’s legacy. The story of Zoe shows the im-portance of the work done by Friends of Koala and the success that can come from their efforts.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Lorraine Vass and Gwen Seznec for providing the historic information of Zoe’s life and to all those who assisted in her miraculous survival.

—Maria Matthes

From p4

Nursery News

T he Nursery is ticking along quite nicely with lots of koala food tree

seedlings nearing potting-up size cour-tesy of the propagation work done by the Green Army and various school kids as part of our recent Eco Schools Pro-jects. We also have around 5,000 koala food trees nearing planting size that will be utilized by our second Green Army team.

We have been fortunate to have re-ceived a number of orders for trees from various funding bodies which are con-tributing nicely to our income stream:

♦ 500 trees - Wetland Care Australia

♦ 500 trees - Fifteen Trees (a carbon offset company)

♦ 400 trees – NRMA

♦ 100 trees – Lismore City Council

I’m very pleased to announce that Care Centre volunteer Kim Lewis responded to our advertisement for a Nursery Man-ager. Her training is underway.

—Mark Wilson

Jabara in care



O ur Green Army project entitled ‘Assisting the recovery of koala

populations on the NSW North Coast’ is going great guns.

Green Army 1, under the capable super-vision of Team Leader Keith Williams from EnviTE, completed its six months’ work at the end of June, reaching all of the targets set for the project’s first stage:

♦ 3,820 koala food trees planted

♦ 10,000 koala food trees propagated

♦ Estimated 9.3 hectares rehabilitated

♦ Seeds collected.

Green Army 2 also supervised by Keith, was launched at the beautiful Bodhi Tree Monastery at Tullera in early Au-gust.

This team is working with Landcare and FOK members in Jiggi, Caniaba and Boatharbour to restore koala habitat on their properties. Focussing on weed con-trol and planting, the 20-week time-

frame is sufficient to achieve a great on-

ground outcome.

Many landowners have been working tirelessly for years to restore wildlife habitat. A team of energetic and com-mitted young workers is just what’s needed for them to push ahead with achieving their individual goals. Landowner Derek Skingle has praised the work of the team and the program saying, “providing young and enthusias-tic trainees with opportunities to make a difference by improving degraded habi-tat and acquiring new skills in conserva-tion is a win-win situation”.

Kyle Murphy grabbed the opportunity to work in restoring wildlife habitat. “I did not hesitate to apply to be part of the team and work in the outdoors where I feel I can make a difference,” he said.

The Green Army is a $525 million Fed-eral Government initiative aimed at fos-tering practical and grass-

Desperately seeking leafers! Our sick koalas need fresh leaf 365 days a year, and just some of our unsung heroes are our ‘leafers’ - volun-teers who gather ‘leaf’ every day for the koalas in our care.

Leafers go out in the early morning, identify the preferred eucalyptus trees, cut green branches of leaf, then bring back a load of aromatic leaf in the Res-cue Van to the sleeping koalas at the Centre. The activity takes no more than 2 hours out of the morning.

Leafers provide essential food. It’s pret-ty easy and enjoyable being a leafer, as you only need a basic level of fitness and we’ll show you how it’s done in one morning session; even better if you’re a fully qualified driver and over 25.

Right now we’re in desperate need of leafers who are prepared to make a long(ish)-term commitment of about 2 hours once a week, as two of our senior long term leafers – John Stock and Paul O’Donnell - are carrying two shifts each and would dearly like someone to take over one of their shifts. We also have two senior leafers working alone on Saturday and Sunday, which is not best practice.

Forest Red Gum needed! Believe it or not, to sustain one koala in care requires 1000 trees, and as already mentioned, our leafers gather a signifi-cant amount of leaf every day. Whilst we have two fully established planta-tions on public land – the Rous Water plantation at Howards Grass and the Lismore Council plantation on Wyrallah Road – the new public plantations are not yet harvestable. We also have some plantations on private land but again, some of these are still young, whilst others have been harvested heavily – as have the Rous Water and Wyrallah Road plantations. Right now we have a major shortage

particularly of Forest Red Gum, which is one of the most highly prized koala foods in our region. Leafers are search-ing the highways and byways around the Lismore Council area, and whilst some of the shortage is seasonal, it would be wonderful to have some more properties with koala food trees that are within 30 minutes’ drive from Lismore and of a harvestable height. That really means lots of boughs that are less than 5 metres from the ground as otherwise leafers can’t really reach them with their lop-pers.

So if you can help out with either the essential, pleasant and satisfying volun-teer role of leafer, or, if you have, or know people who have, koala food trees that meet the criteria above, or think you may have, give me a call on 6621 5906 or send me an email at [email protected]

Lismore Council’s koala food tree plantations

As mentioned two of the three new Koa-la food tree plantations on land gener-ously provided by Lismore City Council at the end of Allambie Drive, Goonel-labah and in Nesbitt Park, South Lis-more have now been planted out. De-spite the recently dry weather, the trees are thriving, which is a credit to Rick Stewart, Mark Wilson and all who as-sisted with the plantings. The third plan-tation is still being negotiated with Council, but it will now probably be beside the bike/pedestrian path running parallel to Bruxner Highway between the Loftville Channel and Lismore Lake.

Council has also provided new signage for the two new plantations as well as replaced the old sign in Wyrallah Road outside the Lismore Recycling & Recov-ery Centre. One of the great features of the new signs, apart from the images of mum and her back young, are that they’re clearly visible and already re-ceiving favourable feedback.

Bouquets to Lismore Council, as well as Vanessa Tallon who organised the signs and to Council’s Sign Shop for the ex-cellent production.

—Ros Irwin

Leaf Harvesting Co-ordinator’s Report Green Army Update

Continued p7

Green Army team members, Kyle Murphy and Jane Dutton with landowner Derek Skingle

Leafers and carers attended the Leafing Workshop held recently



Communications Survey

I n the last issue of Treetops mention was made of our plans for a new

building at the Care Centre.

Progress has been made, as we have now settled on a design and Graphiti Design have provided a concept drawing for how it might look on the site.

Newton Denny Chappelle are preparing a DA for us, and at Lismore Council’s August meeting the Council agreed to reclassify the land on which the Care Centre is sited to operational which, if approved by the State government, would give us the option of acquiring the land if necessary.

Now all we have to do is fund the build-ing, and that’s no small task. Whilst we’ve been raising funds over the years, even this modest and arguably ‘affordable’ building is beyond our budget. We’ve lodged an application for matching funding under the NSW Com-munity Building Partnership Pro-gramme, which would enable the build-ing to proceed so we’re keeping all our many fingers crossed!

Failing that, tax deductible donations can be made through our website at

http://www.friendsofthekoala.org/wp/?page_id=23

and will help us provide a dedicated care facility for koalas in either our more intensive treatment rooms or the external runs.

—Ros Irwin

Looking to the future

roots action to support local environment and heritage conservation projects across the country.

We hope that more Green Army teams will become available to further the koa-la habitat enhancement work so sorely needed across the Northern Rivers.

—Julie Reid

From p6

S ome members may have already received and completed our communications survey. We want all our supporters to have the same opportunity, so whether

this is the first you’ve heard of the survey or whether this is a reminder; please read on and do it!

Think, Care, Act – Stage One 2016

A communications plan for the 21st century!

Friends of the Koala has been granted $12,000 from the NSW Environment Trust throughthe Lead Environmental Community Groups Program to write a communi-cations plan, train 10 ‘Koala Champions’ in social media platforms and produce a short humorous ad for distribution across the net.

We’re starting the project with a short survey on how well we communicate with our members, volunteers and other volunteers working in nature conversation about the different activities we undertake, how they perceive that information and their ideas on how we can improve the way we communicate now and in the future.

The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. Please follow this link or type the following into your browser https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FOKCOMMSURVEY.

If you have any problems accessing the survey then please call Aliison Kelly (project coordinator) on 0428 216 079 or email her at [email protected].

The survey will run until October 18. Four lucky winners will be drawn out of a hat to receive either : a lunch for two at Goanna Bakery; or a voucher from Caddies Bean shop to the value of $100; trees and shrubs to the value of $100 from FOK’s Nursery or a dirtgirlworld DVD pack and T-shirt from mememe productions. The winners will be drawn at the AGM on Wednesday 21st October.

The results from the survey and further information on the project will be included in the next Treetops.

FOK is very grateful for the assistance of the NSW Government through its Envi-ronmental Trust to give us an opportunity to work on this important side of the or-ganisation.

—Aliison Kelly and Ros Irwin

Treasurer Wanted

Friends of the Koala is looking for a volunteer with book-keeping or accountancy experience to take on the office-bearing position of Treasurer.

Turnover is approximately $100,000 per annum. Duties include receiving and receipting income, banking and managing finances, paying creditors, preparing financial reports, fulfilling auditing obligations, budget preparation and membership of the group’s public fund management committee.

For more information please contact Susannah Keogh by phone on 0431 707 883 or by email [email protected]



T he 2015-2016 Committee of Man-agement will be elected at the Annu-

al General Meeting on Wednesday 21 October 2015. Now is the time to be thinking about putting yourself or others forward for nomination. Under the Con-stitution adopted in 2009, Friends of the Koala is required to have a Management Committee of not less than ten (the office-bearers and at least three ordinary mem-bers), and no more than thirteen mem-bers.

Being on the Committee requires a com-mitment of time to attend the six meet-ings held over the twelve month term and to assist in actioning the business result-ing from Committee decisions. Most of us are time-poor, however Committee membership is rewarding with some tan-gible benefits.

Committee members are the group’s de-cision-makers. Participation really fast-tracks a member’s understanding of the breadth of activities we are involved in and the way in which the organisation functions. It can be a learning experience, especially if a person has not previously served on a committee. You work closely with fellow Committee members and, yes, there can be a sense of real achieve-ment. FOK does not expect people to stay on its Committee indefinitely but we would like a commitment for the full term.

The Committee is responsible for guiding and managing the group’s affairs. It is accountable for compliance with the con-ditions of our rehabilitation and release licence and other legislative obligations. It develops the direction of policy for our activities including rescue and care, habi-tat, community education, advocacy, lob-bying, and research. Office-bearers attend to administration including, finance, cor-respondence, marketing and promotion.

Management Committee Positions up for Election In recent years the Committee has met at Southern Cross University on a Saturday afternoon. The venue and timing of meetings can be altered to suit the ma-jority.

The seven office-bearing positions are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Care Co-ordinator, Koala Care Centre Co-ordinator and Trees Of-ficer. The number of general committee members depends on the number of nominations received. A few general committee members have occupied named positions but there is a degree of flexibility in the duties of non-office-

bearing positions, depending on the skills and interests of members who are elected.

Office-bearing positions and a brief outline of their duties:

President: Provide leadership to FOK; prepare agendas for and chair meetings of the Management Committee; chair the Friends of the Koala Care Fund Management Committee; co-ordinate advocacy and policy reform activities, prepare media releases; spokesperson; network.

Vice President: Support and deputize for President as required; co-ordinate specified projects; prepare grant applica-tions; assist with co-ordinating activities; spokesperson. Secretary: Record minutes of Manage-ment Committee meetings; Prepare rou-tine correspondence; Organise the Annu-al General Meeting.

Treasurer: Receive and receipt in-come; bank and manage finances; pay creditors; prepare financial reports; ful-fill auditing obligations; receive and

receipt fees for new membership nomi-nations; prepare budget; member of the Friends of the Koala Care Fund Manage-ment Committee.

Care Co-ordinator: Overall responsi-bility for the treatment and rehabilitation of all koalas brought into care; work closely with Care Centre Co-ordinator, Phone Co-ordinator, Training Officer, Home Carers and Veterinarians; author-ise diagnostic tests and referrals to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital and Cur-rumbin Wildlife Hospital (authorisation of trips to the Hospital made in consulta-tion with President or delegate); main-tain accurate records including the data-base; prepare reports as required by the Management Committee; spokesperson.

Koala Care Centre Co-ordinator: Manage the Koala Care Centre; ensure maintenance and tidiness; supplies; over-see the hands-on training of rostered volunteers; co-ordinate involvement in voluntary work/award schemes; co-

ordinate Supervisors’ meetings; prepare reports as required by the Management Committee.

Trees Officer: Co-ordinate Nursery and related activities; maintain associated records; target priority areas for habitat restoration; liaise with local government and other partners and stakeholders re-garding habitat matters; prepare reports as required by the Management Commit-tee.

All positions become vacant and re-quire formal nomination for election. If you are interested in finding out more about the Management Commit-tee’s work or a particular position, please contact the President.

20 September: Friends of the Koala Charity of the Day & Stall, 7amish to 2pmish, Lismore Carboot Market

26 September: Friends of the Koala Management Committee Meeting, Room P160 Southern Cross University, 2pm

30 September: Deadline for late 2014-

2015 Friends of the Koala Member-ship Renewal (see Renewal Form: p.15)

18 October: Friends of the Koala Stall, 7amish to 2pmish, Lismore Car Boot Market

21 October: Friends of the Koala, Inc’s Annual General Meeting, Lis-more Workers’ Club, Keen Street, Lis-more at 7pm

24-25 October: Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s 2014 Annual Con-ference, Law Foyer, University of Syd-ney

25 October: Wildcare Australia’s Vet-erinary Aspects of Koala Rehabilita-

tion, to be delivered by Dr Robyn Sten-ner (formerly AZWH), RSPCA Queens-land’s Wildlife Hospital, Wacol, 9.30am to 3.30pm.

7-23 November: 2015 Great Koala Count

15 November: Friends of the Koala Stall, 7amish to 2pmish, Lismore Car Boot Market

21 November: Friends of the Koala Management Committee Meeting, Southern Cross University, 2pm

24 November: NSW Wildlife Council 38th General Meeting, OEH Hurstville

&

Deadline for next Treetops

Dates for your Diary



FRIENDS OF THE KOALA INCORPORATED

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE NOMINATION

We: ……………………………………………………and…………………………………………………………

being financial members of the Friends of the Koala Inc., nominate: ………….…………………………….

for the position of: ……………………………………on the Friends of the Koala Management Committee

Signed: ………………………………………………and ………………….………………………………………

I accept nomination to the above position.

Name:: ………………………………………………Signed: …………………………………………………......

Friends of the Koala Inc.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday 21 October, 2015 at 7.00 pm Lismore Workers’ Club

225-231 Keen Street, Lismore

All members (and guests) are invited to attend and celebrate Friends of the Koala’s achievements over the past 12 months and to elect the

2015-16 Committee.

Please join the out-going Committee for dinner in the Bistro at 5.45pm for 6.00pm (at own expense)



A few weeks ago, on 27 August, the NSW Parliament discussed the

petition signed by well over 17,000 sup-porters concerned about the safety and future survival of the koala population that stands in the way of Section 10 of the Pacific Highway Upgrade.

Petitions are one of the most traditional Parliamentary processes, being the only means by which individual citizens can directly place their grievances before the Parliament. Each sitting day of the NSW Legislative Assembly, the Clerk an-nounces the petitions received from Members. A copy of each is referred to the Minister responsible for the subject addressed by the petition. The Minister is required to lodge a response to a peti-tion signed by 500 or more persons within 35 calendar days from the time the petition is tabled. This response is tabled and published.

The subject matter of a petition which has been signed by 10,000 or more per-sons is set down as an order of the day for discussion by the House. The discus-sion takes place at 4.30pm on the Thurs-day of the week following the petition’s receipt by the House. The discussion isn’t a discussion as we understand it; rather fairly brief presentations support-ing and opposing the petition’s subject matter, and usually restricted to four speakers in all.

Our petition urging the Legislative As-sembly to call on the NSW government to select an alternative koala-friendly route for Section 10 was tabled by Jodi McKay MP, Shadow Minister for Roads questioning why an alternative route couldn’t be found. Tamara Smith, Mem-ber for Ballina added with her personal account of what’s at stake for Ballina’s koalas.

Speakers for the government were An-drew Gee, Member for Orange and Chris Gulaptis, Member for Clarence. Rather generously the Acting Speaker accepted another three speakers in sup-port of our petition. Trish Doyle, Mem-ber for the Blue Mountains, Kate Wash-ington, Member for Port Stephens and Jenny Leong, Member for Newtown all spoke passionately about the need for koala protection and the amount of com-munity support in their various jurisdic-tions for the petition.

If nothing else, the petition served to bring home to parliamentarians through-out NSW the extent of community con-cern about the route proposed for Sec-tion 10. Each Member received a de-tailed briefing letter and many of them

received emails from 1,500 voters across their electorates, courtesy of IFAW’s clever and obliging IT people.

The discussion is recorded in Hansard and on video, available on the NSW Parliament website. It attracted some regional media interest but nothing in the Sydney media despite our best ef-forts in Macquarie Street (see photo on back cover).

At the beginning of September the Budget Estimates Hearing enabled a further opportunity for questioning Duncan Gay, Minister for Roads. One question was put to him and others have been submitted as supplementary questions, for which responses should be received in a few weeks. We understand that Roads and Mari-time Services have received the field study population and genetic reports. We expect they will honour their com-mitment to transparency and make these reports available on their website within weeks. We are also requesting other material through freedom of in-formation provisions.

There appears to be little else cam-paigners can do while RMS is consider-ing the science. Without access to that process we are left wondering, fearing the worst.

—Lorraine Vass

Saving Ballina’s Koalas

A side from Saving Ballina’s Koalas there is not a great deal to report in

this quarter. In mid-August the NSW Government announced a “strengthened” 10/50 Vegetation Clear-ing Entitlement Scheme that would pro-vide better environmental protection and minimise tree clearing for views.

What a joke! In regard to koala habitat, the review agreed that additional protec-tions for core koala habitat should be provided. However they are to be those areas which are wholly or partly within mapped core koala habitats within Comprehensive Koala Plans of Manage-ment ( CKPoMs).

Given there are only four approved CKPoMs in NSW, and they so far apply to north coast coastal areas, that doesn’t amount to much. And how will it work on the ground? Presumably the Depart-ment of Planning & Environment will provide to the Rural Fire Service and landholders (both private and public) a map showing where core habitat is iden-

tified. If a landholder wants to clear any, one assumes further consent will be re-quired.

The NSW Government’s uncertainty around elements of SEPP 44 including koala plans of management approved under the SEPP is still an uncomfortable and baffling development to which Councils are responding in different ways. We understand, for example, that Tweed Shire has requested that the De-partment of Planning holds off on ap-proving the Tweed Coast CKPoM until their position is clearer and an informed decision made on the worth of continu-ing with SEPP 44 approval. Ballina Shire Council has approved its shire-

wide CKPoM for public exhibition but is also holding off. The resolution will be actioned in mid to late October.

The third, post-legal advice version of Byron’s draft CKPoM went to Council on 27 August where it was again held up, the pro-development majority call-ing for a peer review of the CKPOM and associated habitat mapping, to be carried out preferably by the University of Queensland Koala Ecology Group and funded from unspent project fund-ing. A fortnight was given for further submissions from interested parties. Terms of reference for the peer review will be prepared on the basis of submis-sions received and questions raised by Councillors.

A workshop is to be provided for Coun-cillors, CKPoM Project Reference Group members and known experts who have made substantial submissions on 24 September to oversee the submis-sions, peer review terms of reference and other related issues including legal advice and SEPP 44.

The current version of the Plan is at best confusing. Our submission emphasised the urgent need for a Plan that will une-quivocally trigger SEPP 44’s full protec-tion and more.

Over the past quarter Friends of the Ko-ala has lodged submissions objecting to amendments to noise limits, etc. At the North Byron Parklands Cultural Event Site, Yelgun (NSW Dept Planning & Environment, Major Project Assess-ment) and to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amend-ment (Standing) Bill 2015 (Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications).

In addition to our submission to Byron Council above, we wrote a supporting submission on the Draft Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management for the Ash-by, Woombah and Iluka localities in the Clarence Valley LGA.

—Lorraine Vass

Advocacy and Policy

Reform



K oalas are already tucking into koa-la food trees in and adjacent to the

Pottsville Wetlands at two different sites planted through the Tweed Byron Koala Connections pro-ject.

On private property to the west of the wetland, koala feed trees planted in March 2014 have been visited by koalas, with Swamp Mahogany and Forest Red Gum being favoured and munched on.

Within the wetland itself, koala food trees planted in May 2014 are also being used by koalas. Whilst no koalas have been actually spotted yet in this plant-ing, large numbers of koala scats have been recorded under many Swamp Ma-hogany and Forest Red Gum, with heavily browsed crowns very evident.

Swamp Mahogany and Forest Red Gum, primary koala food trees that oc-cur on our floodplains and like wet feet have displayed excellent growth at most Koala Connections sites, with trees at-taining heights of up to 4 and 5 metres. So they are more than ready to handle a visit and munch by a koala and of course koalas are a very welcome visi-tor to our planting sites!

—Tanya Fountain Koala Connections Project Officer

Koalas get helping hand from Potts-ville Ecowarriors

Twenty students from Pottsville Beach Public School have been involved in helping to increase community aware-ness of the issues faced by koalas, and what can be done to help. The students from the school’s Ecowarriors group recently visited Clothiers Creek Road to see the ‘koala road’ works underway to reduce the impact of cars on koa-las. The site visit was the culmination

of recent actions that the students have been undertaking in the local communi-ty. They have also produced some fan-tastic posters encouraging drivers to

slow down and watch out for koalas when travelling in the koala zone, pre-pared and deliv-ered presenta-tions throughout the school and written articles for the school newsletter.

All on-ground actions and community edu-cation aspects of

the koala road project have been in-formed by traffic monitoring which has revealed that the road is most heavily used at school drop-off and pick-up times. The students are ideally placed (in the back seat!) to directly influence driv-ers of the cars they are travelling in and also to spread the word through the school community. The group also in-spected the variable message signs in-stalled at either end of the koala zone, including recent messages spreading the good news that a mother koala with a joey has recently been sighted in the area.

As part of the excursion the students visited one of the Koala Connections

planting sites where 5,000 trees were planted last year and learnt how to identify koala food trees and some of the key steps involved in creating new koala habitat. They received Certificates of Apprecia-tion recognising their valuable con-tribution to the project.

A selection of the posters produced by the Ecowarriors can be viewed on the Koala Connections news feed at www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/koalas.

—Scott Hetherington Koala Connections

Project Manager

Koala Connections in Tweed

T regeagle Landcare’s koala focus is continuing thanks to a grant of

$25,000 from the Jaramas Foundation through Landcare Australia.

Building on the work achieved through a three-year partner-ship with En-viTE and Friends of the Koala under a Caring for Country Com-munity Action Grant, this new project will extend weed control and food tree plantings to link areas of existing koala habitat on the properties of participating landholders.

Jim Kinkead, Tregeagle Landcare’s President and a member of the Lis-more City Council’s Koala Implemen-tation Group is keen to acknowledge the leveraging power of neighbour-hood collaboration and skilling:

“The success of winning this grant is due to the commitment of the local landholders to improving the environ-ment. Our group includes macadamia growers, cattle farmers and smaller rural blocks. We are all working to-gether to improve the future for koa-las.

Thick lantana around koala food trees was preventing koalas from being able to climb up the trees and eat the leaves. We were able to bring in bush regenerators funded by the grant to control the lantana and now see koalas in trees they could not reach before.”

The Tregeagle Public School Junior Landcare Group is also participating in improving the lot of local koalas. Members have recording sightings of koalas as part of the project and have been keeping measurements of the growth of koala food trees planted at Tregeagle. Friends of the Koala’s Mark Wilson is working with the Group on its Eco Schools Project En-hancing Koala Habitat at Tregeagle Public School and Surrounds.

Tregeagle is located in the critical koala precinct so important for the long term survival of koalas in urban Lismore and beyond. It is a key area for breeding and dispersal.

—Jim Kinkead

Tregeagle News

Pottsville Beach Public School Ecowarriors visit Clothiers Creek Koala Road

Tregeagle Koala & baby

Mum and bub in Swamp Mahogany planted in 2013

An example of the colourful posters produced by Potsville students



Treetops is printed on recycled paper.

Tweed Shire Council offers a s356 dona-tion of $3,000 and Rous Water provides land and assists with maintenance for a Koala Food Tree Plantation at Howards Grass on the outskirts of Lismore.

The Northern Rivers Regional Office of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service offers an un-tied grant of around $2,500.

In 2006 the Tony & Lisette Lewis Foun-dation through its WildlifeLink program donated our rescue van and leaf-trailer. WildlifeLink continues to pay for on-

costs such as registration, insurance, re-pairs and servicing.

Heartfelt thanks to all our sponsors from everyone at Friends of the Koala.

—Lorraine Vass

F riends of the Koala’s income is de-rived from numerous sources:

membership subscriptions, competitive grants, nursery and merchandise sales, donations, fund-raising initiatives, occa-sional one-off sponsorships and of course our on-going partners and spon-sors.

We could not do what we do without the generosity of so many partners, spon-sors, and members of the public. We and the Australian community owe a great debt to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital and the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital which both heavily rely on public donations to continue their bril-liant work.

The private practices which provide so much pro bono service, in particular Keen Street Veterinary Clinic in Lis-more are also deserving of our gratitude. The University of Sydney’s Koala Health Hub is a more recent service provider. We estimate that the veteri-nary treatments, surgery, tests, etc. which our koalas receive would, if they were properly costed, run unto hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So who are these other partners and sponsors who help cover our operating costs?

From 1996 until recently Lismore City Council had provided Friends of the Koala with an annual s356 donation of $2,000. The new system introduced this year is a project-based grant scheme aimed at improving community infra-structure. Our project, Expanding the Friends of the Koala Plant Nursery, was one of a handful to attract recurrent funding for 2016/17 and 2017/18.

Lismore Council provides land and as-sists with maintenance for Koala Food Tree Plantations on three sites. It also leases us the Koala Care Centre site for a peppercorn rent.

Friends of the Koala’s Partners and Sponsors Macadamia Castle’s

Animal Park

O ver the past months we’ve been considering a proposal from the

Animal Park at Macadamia Castle for a partnership which could see mutual benefits flowing to both organisations – and of course our beloved koalas!

At present we are working with the Cas-tle by supporting their aspiration to ac-quire the requisite licence to exhibit koalas and to develop a joint Memoran-dum of Agreement in regard to the shar-ing of some resources including animal welfare, FOK koala food tree planta-tions, staff knowledge and time, and education about koalas.

From our perspective, a focus on koalas in the animal park would provide a sig-nificant additional opportunity to edu-cate a larger and wider audience in the community about the Northern Rivers’ koala population. Given the number of tourists and school groups that visit the Castle, this could only be beneficial for the Northern Rivers’ koala population.

—Ros Irwin

Koala Health Hub

T he Hub’s second e-bulletin published in August is really hitting its straps

with an interesting round-up of news, research and standing items. We loved reading about the work of FOK’s own Allen Pearson.

In the Koala Care Support & Training section, this is what was said:

“Everything started with a one day nec-ropsy workshop for Allen run by the KHH at the FOK facilities. From the first day on Allen established an excellent system to manage nec-ropsies, sam-ple storage and first class sample ship-ment in any form of pack-age wanted.

Since last year, Allen has per-formed over 40 koala necropsies, includ-ing full necropsy reports, and provided hundreds of samples for research investi-gations at the University of Sydney, the Australian Museum and Southern Cross University.

The quality and quantity of specimens provided for koala research investiga-tions, and his diligence, are outstanding.

Allen is rapidly growing his knowledge about new and common findings during his necropsies through papers, books and frequent email discussions with the KHH team at the University of Sydney, provid-

ing the valuable service of keeping us informed about koala diseases and mor-talities in this area.

We would like to give Allen a big “Thank you” for his contributions to Koala research in the past and for his future work.”

The Koala Health Hub e-

bulletin can be accessed at: https://wordvine.sydney.edu.au/files/1417/9529/

Editor, Andrea Casteri-ano is looking for sub-missions from readers. These can be updating on their respective projects either in the form of summaries or updates on

new or existing projects, recent publica-tions, needs in local areas, summaries of koala health in local areas, or anything else readers would like to see.

Material for posting in future editions should be submitted to: [email protected].

Committee member Julie Reid receiv-ing our s356 Grant cheque from Lis-more Mayor Jenny Dowell



Bulletin Board New Members A very warm welcome to the following members who have been formally ac-cepted into Friends of the Koala over recent months: Mark Richards and SA White of Balli-na, Maria Matthes of Bagotville, Howard Madison of Modanville, Howard Read of Clunes, Linda Hawke of Coraki, Katy Hollingworth of Federal, Leigh Allen of Casino, Angel Toro, Meredith Doust, Jaimee Moynihan, Sophie Baecklund, Jesse Bowman, Mandi Bertelsen, Nel-son Brand, Wayne Dobbs and Scott Gallagher of Lismore, Angus Mcllueen and Michael Smith of Goonellabah, Jo-anne Cashman of McLeans Ridges, Katy Clover and Tekirabereta Matiota of East Lismore, Drame Karamo of Kone, New Caledonia, Jujen & Denise de Lange of Haar lem, The Nether -lands and re-joining members Lavender of Lennox Head and Jennifer Abraham of Mullumbimby.

Lismore Bunnings BBQ

On 8 August we held our second Bun-nings Sausage Sizzle for the year at Bun-nings Warehouse in Lismore. It was a very enjoyable day; a lot cooler for slav-ing over a hotplate and highly profitable – $1,177.45 in total. Many thanks to Bunnings, Mark Wilson and everyone else who gave their time.

ARC Linkage Grant Success

The team led by the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Peter Timms has again been successful in securing ARC Link-age grant funds. This grant will assist development of a vaccine for koala retro-virus (KoRV). KoRV infects over 95% of Australia’s koalas. Strongly linked to lymphoma and leukemia it, along with Chlamydia, is a serious threat to the koa-la’s long-term survival. Development of a vaccine which can be combined with the Chlamydia vaccine being developed in parallel will be a major step forward in effective disease management Friends of the Koala is one of 8 industry partners.

Minister tours North-east Forests In late August NEFA and NCEC reps

took the NSW Minister for the Environ-ment, Mark Speakman on a brief tour of forests at Royal Camp and the Rich-mond Range. At Royal Camp the Minis-ter saw for himself one of the Koala High Use Areas NEFA had stopped For-estry Corp from illegally logging in 2012. On the Richmond Range he saw the disastrous impact of logging die-back. He also received a detailed brief-ing paper prepared by NEFA on the consequences of koala habitat protection measures proposed under the new Inte-grated Forestry Operations Approvals (IFOA) in preparation. NCC working for Koalas The Koala Summit held by the Nature Conservation Council back in May is already paying off. According to Cam-paign Director, Daisy Barham, “Koalas are a powerful reminder of our current disregard for the living world. Three of our [NCC’s] top campaigns are actively charting a brighter future for the koala and other wildlife. To protect the koala we must end native logging of our for-ests, ensure we have strong laws to pro-tect important bushland from clearing, and make sure coal mining doesn’t de-stroy vital tracks of habitat.” Right on Daisy!

Cooma-Monara’s CKPoM

The Draft Cooma-Monaro Comprehen-sive Koala Plan of Management, the second part of a two-part koala project in the Shire, is on public exhibition until 14 October 2015. The first part of the project involved surveying koala activi-ty within the study area, which extends in a north-south strip from the Tinderry Mountains to Kybeyan, but focussed around the village of Numeralla. The survey sought to understand better the relationship between koala activity and different aspects of their local habitat. Lismore’s Greenloaning Biostudies Pty Ltd has prepared the Draft CKPoM in conjunction with Biolink’s Steve Phil-lips.

Cape Otway’s Koalas

Victorian Government vets and wildlife officers are back at Cape Otway as-sessing the health of 300-400 koalas, fertility controlling healthy females, euthanasing unhealthy koalas and con-ducting a trial translocation of 30 koalas to test the suitability of other local habi-tats. In addition suitably qualified Zoos and Wildlife Parks will be allowed to “re-home” any orphaned back-young whose mothers are euthanased because of poor health.

Victoria’s Minister for the Environment says the over-abundance of koalas at Cape Otway “is a complex, long-term issue brought about by their love of Manna Gums, their reluctance to change

food source, favourable climatic condi-tions and an absence of predators.”

Koalas’ love lives

An international research team headed up by the University of Queensland’s Bill Ellis is trying to make sense of the koala’s mating system. They’ve con-cluded that indirect male-male competi-tion, female mate choice, and possibly female competition mediate sexual se-lection. They’ve also noted that male koalas bellow in order to make their presence known to avoid confrontation with other males as well as for attracting females. More at: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2015/07/male-koalas-raise-their-voices-avoid-conflict

Koala Rescue & Rehabilitation Work-shop

Over 80 people from all over NSW at-tended the excellent koala rehab work-shop conducted by Port Macquarie Koa-la Hospital’s Cheyne Flanagan on behalf of WIRES. Held over a day and a half, there was plenty of time for useful net-working as well as practical demonstra-tions. The material presented pretty much followed the Hospital’s fully re-vised Koala Rehabilitation Manual now into its 4th edition

Finger Puppets a Hit A big thank you to to Jan Regan of Al-stonville who made the very popular knitted koala finger puppets we have on sale at the Koala Care Centre.

Thank you Jan!

President Lorraine and Clarence Valley WIRES member, Pat Edwards at the workshop

Teamwork at it’s best—Helen Hargreaves and Mark Wilson at the hot plate



Member Profile – Yasmin Cabot

Y as initially came to

volunteer for Friends of the Koala through a six month work for the dole program towards the end of 2014. She made such

good friends and enjoyed working with koalas so much she decided to stay on. She joined the Management Committee in May.

What’s the best thing about where you live? I’ve just bought a property at Jiggi and am really enjoying the peace and tranquillity. One of the best things about finally owning my own home is the pos-sibilities.

What are you reading? The Sky of Spells, which is book nine of Morgan Rice’s Sorcerer’s Rings Series. It has dragons and magic.

What is your favourite movie? M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. I like a good thriller and this one had me capti-vated and intrigued.

What’s your favourite hobby/pastime? I like to draw, mainly portraits and have recently taken up watercolours. I also collect dragons.

Your idea of a perfect Sunday? Sleep-ing in, coffee on the verandah watching the wildlife and listening to all the birds with no plans, so I can just potter around doing nothing at my own pace.

Your most memorable travel experi-ence? The fir st holiday Tim and I went on together was to Sea World. I had never previously been to a theme park so I was pretty excited. We did lots of touristy things and ate lots of seafood.

What you would most like to be doing in five years’ time? To have finished renovating/building and have a part time job (two to three days a week) - dream house and dream job.

Who is the person you would most like to meet? Kelly Osbourne, because she seems fun and quirky.

What has been your favourite koala

moment? There was a boy from The Channon called Luno, who managed to steal my sunglasses off my face and pick my nose at the same time whilst I as bus-ily picking up his scats. Koala claws are quick and sharp.

I attended an amazing conference on 23-24 August.

The Queensland Trust for Nature (QTFN) is an independent NFP organi-sation that buys and sells private proper-ties held under conservation in order to protect and enhance biodiversity; similar to the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW.

QTFN is creating Queensland’s largest nature bank. There are now 4 million hectares of refuges across the state; 7.8% of the land surface. Private property owners hold 2.8% of the land surface under conservation and refuge orders.

The Conference focus was to chart the future for collective stewardship.

Sunday kicked off with a well-organised and incredibly interesting field trip to two properties.

The first was Koala Crossing Wildlife Refuge at Peak Crossing, a 672 hectare property that holds the largest remaining contiguous stretch of open eucalypt for-est in South East Queensland.

Of particular interest were two demon-strations. The first involved finding Blondie, one of two radio-collared koa-las, by radio signal, and the second was scat detection by Oliver Woosman’s koala detection dog, Taz . Olivia attend-ed my last field day at Koala Gardens, Tuckurimba. Even with a crowd of 80 onlookers, Taz found scats at three loca-tions with ease and speed!

Next stop was Old Hiddenvale Nature Refuge, a huge 3091 hectare property encompassing a working cattle station, resort and nature refuge.

I was most impressed by our walk around the massive 60 hectare eucalypt planting area—ten times the size of my planting area. The success rate has been nearly 100% and the trees were incredi-ble. It was great to compare my tree growth as both our properties were planted around the same time.

QTFN Private Land Conservation Conference

Monday’s presenters from government departments, university researchers and private landowners were interest-ing and diverse.

The key points I took away for consid-eration are:

• Biodiversity will be critical for our wildlife in coping with climate change.

• Landscape systems connectivity through the properties of many private landholders will be crucial to wildlife survival.

• Soil health and timber growth are more important in creating an ‘anti-fragile’ environment than spray-ing poisons.

• Combining tourism opportunities with conservation can provide a financially viable future.

• Valuing nature and making a liv-ing off your refuge land is not ‘selling out’ but ‘selling in’.

• When political will diminishes, it is up to the community to step up to take the challenge!

I am now taking up the challenge and looking at having a conservation cove-nant placed on my property. Working with the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW here in Lismore will enable me to secure my land for conservation in perpetuity; ensuring the work I’m do-ing cannot later be undone.

Many Friends of the Koala members and supporters are managing their land for conservation outcomes. I would love to connect up with you!

—Katrina Jeffery

Taz in action

Tracking koala Blondie



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Volunteers Working For: Koala Rescue and Rehabilitation . Advocacy . Education . Environmental Repair

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The Save Ballina’s Koalas Campaign goes to Macquarie Street

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