Koalas

Tweed Shire Council has prepared a Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management(PDF, 5MB) to help the Tweed Coast koala population recover to more sustainable levels over the next two decades.

The plan was adopted as a strategy of Council on 19 February 2015 and approved under State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) on 17 March 2021.

The plan has been prepared in conjunction with the Tweed Coast Koala Advisory Group and is based on the outcomes of the Tweed Coast Koala Habitat Study. The plan aims to ensure a strategic and comprehensive approach to issues including:

• habitat protection and restoration
• management of bushfire
• mitigation of threats from motor vehicles, dogs and disease
• community education
• research, monitoring and evaluation
• resourcing and implementation

To find out what was achieved, see the Tweed Coast Koala Plan of Management reports: 

• Year 1 Annual Report Summary(PDF, 738KB)
• Year 2 Annual Report Summary(PDF, 799KB)
• Year 3 Annual Report Summary(PDF, 656KB)

The following groups provide opportunities to get involved: 

• Friends of the Koala
  24 hour koala rescue hotline 02 6622 1233. Koala care, rescue and rehabilitation organisation on the Northern Rivers providing volunteer opportunities, koala conservation advocacy, koala food tree nursery and habitat restoration.
• Saving our Koalas
  Not-for-profit organisation assisting landholders to plant Koala habitat in the Tweed.
• Team Koala
  Koala conservation advocacy and education.
• Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers
  24 hour wildlife rescue hotline 02 6672 4789. Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation organisation providing training and volunteer opportunities.
• Tweed Landcare
  Supports people caring for the environment and natural resources of the Tweed. Provider of information, training, project coordination, advocacy and representation for our members, locality groups, landholders and community.

The major fire-management issues threatening the Tweed Coast koala are: 

• high intensity bush fires killing individual koalas
• peat fires that cause widespread collapse of koala habitat
• fire exclusion resulting in progressive koala habitat decline and displacement

The management of fire as a key element for the recovery of koalas on the Tweed Coast is identified in the Tweed Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management. A number of the key fire related actions of this plan have been addressed through the preparation of the following documents:

• Tweed Coast Koala Fire Management Plan(PDF, 7MB)
• Hazard Reduction Burn Guidelines for Koala Habitat on the Tweed Coast(PDF, 4MB)

View the fact sheet(PDF, 1MB) providing an overview of the approach to managing fire for koalas, life and property on the Tweed Coast as detailed by these plans.

The 2021 Tweed Coast Koala Study(PDF, 4MB) was completed between July and December 2021. Council reassesses the distribution and activity of the Tweed Coast koala population every 3 years as part of the Tweed Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management(PDF, 5MB). The 2021 study is the third in this long-term monitoring program since the original Koala Habitat Study(PDF, 7MB) was published in 2011.

Results from this monitoring period confirm that Koala activity remains widespread throughout the study area, with the population fluctuating between survey periods over the last 6 years. Occupancy levels remain extremely low and the Tweed Coast koala population remains at high risk of extinction.

Council collaborated with 5 Northern Rivers councils (Byron, Ballina, Lismore, Kyogle and Richmond Valley), Friends of the Koala, NSW Government and WWF Australia to undertake the first region-wide koala surveys during 2021 and 2022. Biolink Ecological Consultants carried out extensive field survey across more than one million hectares, including private and public land, which has contributed to understanding koala occupancy and distribution across the region. Results of the study have informed the preparation of Regional Koala Conservation Strategy and future monitoring programs.

Northern Rivers Koala Activity Assessment 2021-2022(PDF, 7MB)

The second reassessment of koala activity across the Tweed Coast has recently been completed. This substantial on-ground survey program is essential to track the status and recovery of the Tweed Coast koala population, and the success of the Tweed Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management (KPoM).

The findings of the Tweed Coast Koala Study 2018(PDF, 3MB) are encouraging, and provide support for ongoing investment in implementation of the KPoM, as it works to support population recovery.

The results suggest that populations may be beginning to expand again into areas that had experienced decline as reported in 2015, most notably around Cudgen Nature Reserve and the Round Mountain area. Koala occupancy and activity levels remain relatively stable in the Pottsville Wetland and Black Rocks areas.

A summary of the study(PDF, 2MB) was presented to Council in March 2019.

One of the priority actions of the Tweed Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management is the reassessment of the status of the Tweed Coast koala population, as it is now five years since survey work for the Tweed Coast Koala Habitat Study was done in 2010. The Tweed Coast Koala Study 2015(PDF, 6MB) was completed in December 2015 and describes the methods, results and implications of the most recent survey.

See the Koala Study 2015 FAQ(PDF, 445KB) for a summary of the study.

Tweed Coast Koala Habitat Study 2011(PDF, 7MB)

A detailed koala habitat study was undertaken for the coastal portion of the Tweed local government area in 2011. An area of approximately 21,200 ha, comprising lands surrounding Terranora and Cobaki Broadwaters in the north and extending approximately 35 km south, generally between the coast and the Pacific Highway was surveyed.

The study documented extensive habitat fragmentation to the degree that the remaining viable koala population is now restricted to a small area between Bogangar and Pottsville. Critical koala recovery actions are identified including in relation to fire management, the impact of vehicles and habitat restoration.

The 4 year project was completed in June 2016 and resulted in: 

• Planting more than 73,000 trees on over 120 sites
• Creation of 55 hectares of new koala habitat and improvement of another 150 hectares of habitat
• Koalas including breeding females using planted trees at many sites
• Monitoring and evaluation of project sites continues to demonstrate excellent planting establishment rates of consistently greater than 90%
• More than 800 people attended training, working bees and other events
• Vertebrate pest management monitoring and control over nearly 4000 hectares
• Relevant agencies and land managers have access to new resources to improve fire management to benefit the protection of koalas, their habitat and human life and property
• Corridor linkages have been established between properties, which together with areas of clustered project sites, create landscape scale improvement for koala habitat and connectivity
• Actions taken to reduce threats to koalas from vehicles have resulted in innovative techniques that have proven successful and are being adapted for use in other locations
• The Tweed Byron Koala Connections Forum was a highly successful strategy to communicate the outcomes of the project to a broad audience including sharing lessons learned to the benefit of environmental works throughout koala habitat areas
• Proven success of chemical free techniques for large scale revegetation projects at two sites

One of the key elements of the success of the project was the active involvement of partner organisations including Friends of the Koala, Brunswick Valley Landcare, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Team Koala, Tweed Landcare and Local Land Services.

Together with the dedicated and inspiring commitment from landholders, local contractors and volunteers – the project demonstrated what can be achieved through a whole of community effort.

Read the successful Tweed Byron Koala Connections Banksia Awards nomination(PDF, 4MB)

Koala Connections Forum Program(PDF, 350KB)

The Tweed Byron Koala Connections project team held a highly successful forum in May 2016 to share our stories and lessons from implementing the Koala Connections project. More than 80 people attended the forum held at the Byron Community Centre and shared information about koala habitat restoration and reducing the threat to koalas from cars, fire and dogs.

YouTube video links to proceedings are as follows:

• Tanya Fountain
  Planning and realising a large scale habitat restoration project
• Scott Hetherington
  Koala roads
• Marama Hopkins
  Koala planning; Why write a plan when you could be saving koalas?
• Lindsay Murray
  From a landholder's perspective
• Jo Green
  Connecting koala corridors; The extraordinary people behind the trees
• Chris Roberts
  Where to from here? (part 1)
• Alison Ratcliffe
  Where to from here? (part 2)