Koalas are understood to have been active in recent years in the south-west of the Eurobodalla Shire, near Cadgee, and also near Bermagui, but a lobby group says koala colonies across NSW face wipe-out.
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The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) is renewing calls for the NSW Government to create a ‘Great Koala National Park’, after documents obtained under freedom of information show that it’s the most important public land in NSW for koalas.
The group says reserves announced in the NSW government’s koala strategy were already protected and contain few or no koalas.
The NPA say their proposal for a ‘Great Koala National Park’ would cover 56 per cent of habitat occupied by koalas in north-east NSW, but just 0.2% of koala occupied habitat are included in the government’s reserves.
“This analysis shows that unless the government starts taking koala protection seriously, we’re going to see the large-scale wipe-out of koala colonies in NSW”, said Dr Oisín Sweeney, Senior Ecologist with the National Parks Association of NSW.
“Logging, clearing and urban development are massive threats.
“The government’s strategy has reserves with no koalas. That’s not going to work. To protect koalas, we need to protect where they live, as well as protecting habitat to connect the colonies.
“We’ll also be writing to the federal Environment Minister, Melissa Price, to draw her attention to the cumulative impacts on koalas from land clearing, logging and urban development and urge her to use her power under federal law to intervene to save koalas in NSW.”
