Listen up - New Koala populations found in Eurobodalla
Koalas have been detected at 18 new locations in southern Eurobodalla using acoustic recorders. Half of the sites were burnt during the Black Summer Bushfires and there is hope that the species is now recovering in some places.
These new detections are in three groups, the southern Bodalla State Forest, the eastern edge of the Moruya State Forest and in Deua National Park just west of Moruya township. The acoustic survey reveals the connection between the Bodalla Koalas and their more southern cousins in Gulaga and Kooraban National Parks.
The acoustic survey builds on earlier survey work of the Eurobodalla Koala Recovery Project which used a drone with a thermal camera to find 3 Koalas in the south. The drone also found threatened species such as Greater Gliders and Glossy Black-Cockatoos. The drone was only able to survey 31 sites but the small recording devices called Song Meters were set up at 88 locations to record the bellows of male Koalas over a two week period.
The 12,000 hours of nocturnal sound recordings were analysed by computer software that recognises koala bellows using sonogram spectral images. An additional Song Meter survey at 32 locations within Bodalla State Forest by Forestry Corporation, awaits analysis and will complement these findings.
The Eurobodalla Koala Project is run by dedicated community volunteers for the past 12 years and their spokesperson, Candace Wirth, said “This is the culmination of much field work to show that Koala populations do survive in the Eurobodalla and can now be included in the NSW Koala Management Plan.”
“The Recovery Project also involved Community Tree planting of key food trees for the Koala to create corridors to link these smaller populations. Sharlene Cohen engaged with local landholders at 7 locations to plant out 4,000 tree seedlings propagated at the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens.”
The next steps for the Eurobodalla Koala Project will be to have the NSW Koala Strategy revised to include Eurobodalla as an Area of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS) and have the Eurobodalla Shire Council undertake a Koala Management Plan for the Shire that protects habitat and the remaining Koala populations.
The ongoing monitoring of Koalas in Eurobodalla will continue with NSW Forestry Corporation conducting broadscale Song Meter surveys each Spring and Autumn within State Forests and DCCEEW undertaking biannual surveys on key regional populations.
The Eurobodalla Koala Recovery Project was funded by the Commonwealth Government and partnerships were formed with Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Lands Council Rangers, Eurobodalla Shire Council, Forestry Corporation NSW Southern Region, National Parks and Wildlife Service South Coast Branch and South East Local Land Services. Generous support for the acoustic recorder survey came from the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
An interactive Storymap shows how to identify the best potential koala habitat to rehabilitate movement corridor across Eurobodalla shire.