Logan and Albert Conservation Association
COUNT KOALAS 20-21 October 2012
Do you have some time to spend in the bush this weekend. Join community members out looking for koalas. There is little as thrilling as seeing a koala in a bushland setting behaving as a koala.
If you looking during the day then probably most koalas will be sleeping - high up, in any tree.
Council asks What is Council Doing? but although Council would have us believe it intends to protect koala habitat and that Council has secured large areas of bushland where koalas are common, and vegetation protection and appropriate land zonings are in place to protect those areas, this is not the perception of those of us who monitor / watch Council's development plans. There have been no studies / research in the amalgamated areas and even large bushland properties in private ownership. More about that in other articles.
REPORTING ALL YOUR WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS IS IMPORTANT BUT ESPECIALLY KOALAS THIS WEEKEND. Council has an online reporting form for you to use which you locate at this link.
If you prefer you can phone 3820 1103 between 8am and 5pm to report your sightings or even if you identify the koala by its distinctive sound. Listen to a recording of a male koala bellow here. Logan and Albert Consevation Association president Anne Page will be one of volunteers manning the phones and she would love to hear from you.
Check out map council has provided here. Here we can see a smattering of red dots for recorded sightings across all suburbs. Longterm survival of these koalas depend on - at a minimum - connectivty and preservation of wildlife corridors - established by animal movements, green infrastructure being included in any roads, driving alertly, and improved control of our domestic animals especially dogs
Did you see FOUR CORNERS KOALA KRUNCH TIME?
What a dismal future is "planned" for our koala populations in SEQ!
LACA members would agree with Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke's statement that "the states on their own have allowed numbers to continue to go into freefall." While this rapid decline in numbers may be attributed to development, cars, dogs, disease and climate change the real picture must also include the lack of political will to make decisions and legislation that will be loudly opposed by the development industry. The decades of work done by the Australian Koala Foundation - funded by community was instrumental in the EPBC protection coming about.
The image above shows community protest outside property DTMR wants to acquire to build a road freight motorway - called Park Ridge Connector Corridor. This property is currently shared with resident koalas and other species. It also shares many species and values of Berrinba Wetlands and Karawatha Forest.
Why would government want to pave any of this?
We - ie all governing bodies and communities of people who share koala land - need to preserve all koala habitat currently used - and take preventative action to retain the ecosytem containing the food trees. The mantra NO TREE NO ME is absolutely true.
It is a shameful indictment on the Gold Coast city that the Coomera development has occurred. The so called scientific research re translocation is a furphy to obtain funding. It does not justify clearing koala habitat to build houses and infrastructure for people! To make matters worse Gold Coast council has recently decided to place a protection order on two camphor laurel trees - an environmental weed species. What persuaded them? Someone chained to a tree for two days.
Residents are asked to participate in the Logan City Council's phone-in and web-based community koala survey on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October 2011
Report Your Wildlife Sightings here
Council would appreciate any sightings (or evidence) of threatened or locally significant wildlife you may have encountered in Logan, by submitting the following sighting details. You may also provide records of any deceased animals, such as roadkill animals, as this information is also important.
For the phone-in survey, please call 07 3820 1103 between 8am and 5pm to record your sightings from the weekend.
Information that we will be collecting on the day includes sex, health, location, behaviour and the trees species in which it is located. This information will help us obtain local data about koala distribution and inform planning and management. Of course if you do not know all of this, LOCATION is most important - other details help paint a better picture.
Thanks for helping with wildlife sightings - at all times.
The koala in the image above Babe was rescued from dogs in the Jimboomba area 2009. Legislation requires the koala to be released in the same general area after recovery. Read some of Babe's story here.
Premier The Honourable Anna Bligh, and Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation The Honourable Andrew McNamara released a joint statement Wednesday 5 August 2008. It reads
are among options to be considered as the Bligh Government confronts a crisis facing koalas in southeast Queensland.
Premier Anna Bligh said new research showed the population of koalas in the wild was directly linked to the animals' movement through urban areas and urgent action was needed to slow the dramatic mortality rate.
This information has come to light since the introduction in 2006 of the Government's Koala Plan and means more radical moves are needed to stop the extinction of koalas in SEQ.