Eurobodalla Koala Corridors

this place is the home of the Yuin (people), home of the black duck.

Yuin have been caring for koala kin here since time immemorial. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The Eurobodalla Koala Project is working with elders, local communities and other experts to identify and rehabilitate the best potential koala habitat and movement across our shire.

Region-scale mapping and thermal drone surveys are guiding us to determine the best locations for replanting the missing links in our koala canopy corridors.

Thermal drone surveying is a valuable tool for monitoring koala populations, especially in dense or inaccessible habitats. By detecting the heat signatures of koalas, drones equipped with thermal cameras can accurately locate individuals, even in thick vegetation or at night. This technology is aiding researchers and conservationists to conduct surveys more efficiently, covering larger areas in coordination with traditional acoustic recorders and ground surveys. The non-invasive nature of drone surveys minimizes disturbance to koalas and their habitats, making it a promising method for monitoring and protecting this iconic species.

Sabrina Velasco and Lachlan Hall are the Drone Pilots for the Eurobodalla Koala Recovery Project. With over 500 drone flights between them, they have surveyed across New South Wales on projects targeting koalas, gliders and other species.

They are also avid field ecologists with degrees in Conservation Biology and experience in diurnal and nocturnal transect surveys, bird surveys, acoustic monitoring, remote camera trapping, harp trapping, tree-climbing, koala capture assistance, scat searching and collection, and more. When they can, they also work as expedition guides, communicating science in remote areas like the Kimberley and Antarctica.

You can keep in touch with their work at  @wild_lachie  and  @sabrina_velasco. 

In addition to guraban, a great variety of other forest residents and neighbours have also been observed during these surveys:

This project and drone survey work has not only enabled us to achieve our main focus of identifying Koala locations and habitat within the Eurobodalla, it has also helped us to learn more about our other arboreal neighbours in Yuin Country. One example of this is our discovery of a significant number of endangered Southern Greater Gliders clustered in the Mogo State Forest North of Moruya. This species has been reduced in number by 80% in just 20 years, largely due to tree clearing, logging, bushfires and climate change which are placing Greater Glider populations at risk.

Greater Gliders and Koalas are experiencing the same existential threats of habitat loss and great reduction in their populations, both across the continent and locally within the Eurobodalla. Mogo State Forest and the surrounding ecosystems which they call home are thus exponentially more important to retain and protect as the shared habitat of multiple endangered species.

This forest compartment is scheduled to be logged within the next 3 months, with FCNSW estimating a start date of the 15th of December 2024, and an end date in June 2025.   ^{FCNSW Plan Portal accessed 02/09/2024}  

Finally, this regional habitat mapping and drone survey data is helping us to select the locations for strategic replanting of Koala-specific food trees in order to reconnect guraban's movement throughout the Eurobodalla throughout September 2024. Some local landholders have already offered to host some of the 6,000 saplings to be planted, and there may be more to come!

If you would like to get involved in planting koala habitat, please contact the  Coastwatchers!  Below is a snapshot of a few of our corridor connections across the coast in the Tuross catchment.

To check out some of the maps and data which were used in this storymap, view the interactive map  here .

The Coastwatchers Association Incorporated (Coastwatchers) is the leading community environmental and conservation group serving the South Coast of NSW. It aims to protect the local environment and preserve the integrity of the ecological systems of the NSW South Coast. For 38 years it has worked on the protection of forests and other local ecosystems, and helped to steer local development in a direction that least threatens local plant and animal species and communities.

Coastwatchers is a not-for-profit community environment and conservation group with tax-deductible-gift-recipient status that has served the South Coast of NSW since its formation in 1983 and its incorporation in 1986.

You can find out more about the Coastwatchers on their website:  https://www.coastwatchers.org.au/