Southern New England Landcare will host an interactive webinar as part of the ongoing Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership Project on Friday 29th October.
The focus of the webinar is how to re-create koala habitat and provide practical guidance to participants.

“We will be letting landholders know about the opportunities to be involved in this project,” said Des Andersen, Koala Conservation Project Officer with Southern New England Landcare.

“There are many benefits for rural landholders through creating koala habitat, including the biodiversity benefits for agriculture and for conservation goals” he said.

The webinar will cover known and practical methods to ensure participant’s revegetation or enhancement efforts are successful.

John Lemon, a local ecologist from JML Environmental Consultants, will speak on Koala feed trees and provide information on Koala dietary preferences, and the importance of providing a consistent vegetation community structure.

John says, “We’ve learnt a lot by researching Koalas on the Northern Tablelands in the last few years and look forward to passing on some of this knowledge to assist landholders in their planning and implementation of Koala habitat on their properties”.

The webinar will provide insights into the theory and practice of recreating functional habitat which will serve local Koala populations into the future.

Des Anderson, Koala Conservation Officer, will speak about the Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership Project, which Southern New England Landcare will continue to host into the future.The NSW and Australian Government are currently supporting a number of koala conservation projects across many regions of the state, all of which provide very significant information, data and activities to assist the survival of koalas in the wild.

Des says, “The Northern Tablelands provides significant koala habitat, especially when looking at koala population trends which indicate our local area is becoming a climate refuge for koalas”.

“The community can become involved in reporting koala sightings, helping reduce koala injuries and mortality through vehicle strikes and dog attacks and assisting sick or injured animals by reporting cases to wildlife carers”, he said.

The webinar will include advice from Peter Metcalfe, local botanist and accredited Master Tree Grower, on the theory and practice of recreating functional habitat which will serve local Koala populations into the future. It will also include advice on how to get started with your project and what equipment can be hired to make large scale tree planting projects easier. The webinar will also include some footage from local Master TreeGrowers as part of the ‘Planting Survival – Successful Revegetation’ film produced by Southern New England Landcare in 2020.

A free “Koala Knowledge pack” containing 40 koala habitat tree seedlings and planting guide will be provided to each participant.

When: 12 noon - 1 pm, Friday, 29th October 2021

The event is free, and will include some interactive content. For more information and updates, visit https://snelandcare.org.au/event/webinar-recreating-koala-habitat-a-practical-guide.

Download the flyer.

Bookings are essential via https://www.stickytickets.com.au/1F582. A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants the day before the event is due to take place.

For more information contact Des Andersen or phone 02 67729123.

Images:

(Top Left) Photo by Valeriia Miller on Unsplash

(Above) This Koala used an Elm Tree at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School as a safe haven when it became stranded in the centre of the town. It was rescued and moved to local woodland. Koalas prefer native species for their food and habitat needs. Courtesy of Des Andersen October 2020

Acknowledgement: This initiative has been made possible through the Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership Project, hosted by Southern New England Landcare Ltd, and funded by the NSW Government.