september 2013 patron: margot sweeny (ceo, summerland … · 2016-09-28 · treetops sweetie’s...

Licensed by the Office of Environment and Heritage to rescue, rehabilitate and release koalas—Licence No. MWL000100225. ABN. 69322819171

Fundraising authority CFN 17840 P.O. Box 5034, East Lismore NSW 2480 . Phone 02 6622 1233 . www.friendsofthekoala.org. The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of ‘Friends of the Koala’ Inc.

The Newsletter of Friends of the Koala Inc.

September 2013

Patron: Margot Sweeny (CEO, Summerland Credit Union)

Treetops Sweetie’s Journey into Permanent Care

S weetie came into care in early Octo-ber 2012. She was suffering from

conjunctivitis in both eyes. She was young enough at 1.18kg to have still been with her mum. The other joeys in care at the time were already paired up and healthy. Because she had a conta-gious disease Sweetie needed to be iso-lated until she was all-clear. Pat took on her care, arranging an in-door tree. Sweetie underwent daily in-jections, application of eye medications and milk feeding. Leaf had to be kept up to her as well. Sweetie’s infection was difficult to resolve so she was with Pat for three months. Eventually though local vet Ray Austin declared her ready to move onto the next stage of her care. She was moved to Barb’s place in De-cember and paired up with Kal. By this time she was 2.4kg., living in an outdoor enclosure and onto paste instead of milk. All went well until February 2013 when she was moved into the soft release pen with Kal. We hoped this would be her final stage prior to release. She had been

fully weaned and coping without any supplements to her diet of leaf. She weighed 3.8kg. The soft release pen is a fenced tree. The confined koala gets to practise tree climbing skills in a real tree as well as learning about the real environment - winds, rain and storms - and how to eat leaf from a tree rather than stalks pre-sented in a leaf-pot. Sweetie went well and ini-tially climbed high. Then we had a period of rain. Sweetie was found on the ground and her weight had dropped in contrast to Kal who, while wet was main-taining his weight and doing normal koala things. Sweetie was put back into the enclosure and back on supplements. Initially she responded well but as soon as we tried to wean her again she lost weight. Vet Ray found she had very small bi-lateral cysts, only 1cm in diameter. This was quite distressing after her having been in care for so long. Earlier tests had been negative for chlamydia and all oth-er aspects of her health were fine. Normal procedure for any female koala with cysts is euthanasia. Sweetie had been in care for a long time. She was hand-raised and displayed a quiet tem-perament. She was in good body condi-

tion, free of chlamydia, free of any other health issues and young; definitely a possible prospect for permanent care. We decided to refer her to the Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital (AZWH) for fur-ther assessment. AZWH completed a full health check including bloods, x-rays, abdominal taps and ultrasound. Apart from the small

cysts Sweetie was in good health. The dilemma facing us was what to do about them. Following further discussion with the vet and FOK’s Management Committee the propo-sition of Sweetie undergoing an hysterectomy was agreed to. Her sterility would mean that she could not be released. In NSW a koala which has lost the ability to repro-duce due to injury, disease or pro-cedure must be euthanased, the objective being that remaining hab-itat is devoted to nurturing breeding populations. For these reasons arriving at the decision to operate was not easy. Nor was the decision to apply to hold Sweetie in permanent care.

Nevertheless the operation was success-fully carried out at AZWH and follow-ing a two week post-op stay, Sweetie returned to us. The Office of the Envi-ronment and Heritage approval for her to join Hera, Rosalie and Joanna in per-manent care at the Koala Care Centre was granted in May. It was a long pro-cess involving some anguish, lengthy consultation and discussion and a lot of paperwork. Sweetie is now living a very comforta-ble life in the Care Centre. She has en-deared herself to the volunteers respon-sible for her care. Not only is she thriv-ing, her story is an opportunity to talk to visitors about the horror of cysts in koa-las. Her story is different to the other girls’ enabling us to

What’s Inside

—continued on page 2

» President’s Message ................................. 2 » Care Coordinator’s Report .................... 3,4 » Koala Care Statistics ................................ 4 » Broadwater Koala Reserve ....................... 4 » Care Centre Coordinator’s Report ............ 5 » Great Koala Count:................................... 6 » The 2013 NSW Great Koala Count ......... .7 » Planning Flyer ......................................... .7 » Management Committee Positions up for Election .................................................... 8 » Dates for your Diary ................................. 8 » Annual General Meeting ......................... 9 » Royal Camp’s Koalas ........................... 10 » Windbreak Clearances ............................ 10 » Voluntary Conservation – How you can help ................................... 11 » Where does the money come from? ....... 12 » NSW Wildlife Council Report ............... 13 » Tregeagle Koala Habitat Restoration & Corridor Connections Project ............ 13 » Member Profile - Rhonda Miller ............ 14 » Bulletin Board ........................................ 14 » Application/Renewal Form .................... 15 » Contact Details ....................................... 15

What a Sweetie!

Friends of the Koala 1989 - 2013 - 24 years of licensed koala rehabilitation

Treetops … the Newsletter of Friends of the Koala Inc. September 2013

President’s Message

H ow ironic that Australia elected its Federal Government on Saturday 7

September, our National Threatened Species Day. It commemorates the death of the last Tasmanian Tiger (also known as the Thylacine) in Hobart Zoo in 1936. You'd think that would be a wake-up call but the political parties have all but forgotten our wild-

life; that we’re in the midst of an extinction crisis simply doesn’t resonate with the vast majority of Australians. Environmental issues generally didn’t rate much mention in this election. Apart from creating a Green Army, it’s pretty hard to find anything in the Coalition’s policies on protecting our natural envi-ronment. We know that the Biodiversity Fund is to be abolished (where contracts have been signed for projects, they will be honoured), and that Landcare will remain but the funding will be allocated in small and regional grants. Most wor-rying is that environmental protections are to be handed back to the States by “simplifying” the EPBC Act to create a single approval process for all environ-mental approvals via the state system. Approval right on matters such as nuclear, Com-monwealth ma-rine matters or where the state would be the proponent is to be retained. We’ve yet to see whether all those years campaign-ing to have the koala listed un-der the EPBC Act was worth the effort; now it’s back to the drawing board to try and ensure that nothing of the potential protections we had worked for is lost. More broadly, those of us who do care about the natural environ-ment, and on the basis of The Greens

fantastic showing in Richmond, there are a lot of us in that part of the North-ern Rivers at least, will get on with our work. Wildlife and the environment are largely the purview of the States anyway and while our collective eye has been on Canberra the O’Farrell Government has been preparing to introduce its legisla-tive reform of NSW’s planning laws

educate visitors about the wide range of health problems koalas encounter. While we would have preferred to have seen Sweetie go back to the wild and breeding; we are grateful to be looking after her and to be sharing her story.

—Barbara Dobner

into parliament. The Better Planning Network of which Friends of the Koala is a member, has been relentlessly op-posing the Exposure Bills, focussing public attention on their inherent flaws. Now Local Government NSW, the peak body for the State’s councils is urging delay and the penny appears to have dropped. Mounting criticism from local government, backed by broad communi-ty outrage looks like delaying the Bills going to the September session. It goes without saying that Friends of the Koala has an intense interest in each level of Government’s role in promoting koala recovery. The NSW Government’s role is particularly important because it sets the framework and allocates the resources for achieving koala recovery in NSW. It also has an obligation to the National Koala Conservation Manage-ment Strategy 2009-2014 and will con-tribute to the Recovery Plan for the na-tionally listed combined koala popula-tions of Queensland, NSW and the ACT which we expect will still commence following the expiration of the current Strategy. The quality of the advice Government receives from its senior public servants is therefore crucial. Dr Dan Lunney has held the position of Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Office of Envi-

ronment & Heritage since well before my involvement with koala conserva-tion. He’s been working in the field for 43 years, principally in NSW, but he’s also had considerable involvement in a number of national initiatives which positions him to authoritatively com-ment on the entire Australian koala pop-ulation. Dan is a vociferous and highly regarded koala researcher and a prodi-gious author and reviewer. He has a long history of working with the broader community. He’s also the lynchpin for koalas within the Agency’s head office. There is simply no other public servant in NSW who can claim the depth of his work in koala management and conser-vation. Dan however, is one of many

Lorraine Vass

casualties of OEH’s structural realign-ment. Besides leaving a huge hole in koala knowledge, his departure could be interpreted to be at odds with the Gov-ernment’s commitment to koala recov-ery. Be that as it may, we thank Dan for his life’s work in the conservation and management of NSW’s koalas. Back in our backyard, late August’s warmer weather triggered a welter of mortalities as the critters started to move around; males looking for mates; last year’s offspring dispersing. Koalas have to spend more time on the ground in our fragmented landscape. The asso-ciated risks from cars, dogs and other predators are high. Little wonder that rescuers and carers were overwhelmed by the carnage of those few weeks; thankfully, quietened down since. Spring is also the time for tree-planting, to link up existing patches of remnant koala habitat to create a more continu-ous corridor of food and shelter. There are several restoration projects under-way in our region at present, some of them quite large and targeting specific localities. In the north, Tweed and By-ron Shire Councils’ Koala Connections is recruiting landholders in their coastal areas. To the south, Lismore City Coun-cil is looking for landholders in the Rosebank/Dorroughby area and is con-tinuing on-ground work in the south-east. All this great work, most of it be-ing undertaken on private land, is en-couraging. This time of year also brings with it acquitting grants, compiling our species return, reporting to various organisa-tions and of course to our members. The annual general meeting and manage-ment committee election are only weeks away as you’ll see elsewhere in this issue. I conclude this message by sincerely thanking my fellow out-going commit-tee members. Keeping any organisation vibrant requires vision, energy and a lot of time. For our committee, the effort they put into managing Friends of the Koala is on top of their operational koa-la conservation work - a huge commit-ment.

—Lorraine Vass

Friends of the Koala’s Management Committee comprises seven office bearing positions and from three to six general members. Here (l-r) are Ros Irwin. Susan-nah Keogh, Mark Wilson, Lola Whitney, Pat Barnidge and Louise Charter

—from page 1

Friends of the Koala 1989 - 2013 - 24years of licensed koala rehabilitation


Care Coordinator's Report

W ith the early arrival of the warm weather our koalas have decided

that spring is in the air. Moving from the safety of their treetop homes has result-ed in many of them getting into all sorts of predicaments, some with tragic consequences. I have previously mentioned a female named Indigo who was part of our urban tracking study. Indigo’s collar ceased to operate in September 2011 and we had been trying, without success to catch her ever since. In early June we received a call on the Hotline that a koala had been hit by a car crossing busy Ballina Rd. When rescuers attended they found the koala 10-12 metres up a tree in the grounds of Goonellabah Primary School. An aerial was spotted and we knew it was the elu-sive Indigo. This was the second time she had been hit by a car and being desperate to catch her, the help of an experienced tree climber was necessary. Simon Ennew was phoned and having just arrived home from work he kindly came to the site. After rigging up, Simon expertly used the ropes and his skill to get above Indigo. A flagging pole was sent up via one of the ropes and Indigo, looking very startled at this strange arrival, quickly came down the tree trunk and into the arms of a rescuer. Amazingly Indigo had again escaped serious injury. Following a vet visit and

removal of her collar she was released a few days later, well away from the main road. A huge vote of thanks from all of the FOK people to Simon, without him

Indigo may well have escaped our res-cue efforts. At present we have seventeen koalas in care: four at the Care Centre, all being treated for conjunctivitis, three trauma cases at AZWH and our four permanent girls, including newcomer “Sweetie” who is the subject of our cover story . There are six joeys in home care. Barbara Dobner, one of our fabulous

Nu aborted her small pinkie whilst in care, we were delighted to release her in early February. Sadly after only five months of freedom her body was found at the base of a tree, cause of death un-known. The bad news continued when later in the month a call came in of a dead tagged female who had an unfurred pouch-young, still alive. It was Roxy who had suffered horrific injuries from a domestic dog attack in 2010. Many times during her nine month stay at AZWH Roxy nearly died but amazingly in August 2011 she was released back into her home range. On this occasion she had suffered severe trauma from an unknown cause. Her tiny 50gr pouch-young was euthanased due to it being unviable for home care. Another elderly female was found de-ceased on the SCU campus with a tiny unfurred pouch-young also still alive, and again euthanasia was required due to it being unviable. The bad news contin-ued when our lovely old Westie, who lived in the Care Centre/SCU grounds was brought in with his remaining eye badly infected. Westie had survived a car strike many years ago, but lost an eye. The infection was so bad that his eye could not be saved and he was eu-thanased. Westie was 13 years old – he’d had a pretty good innings for a Northern Rivers koala. I guess the hardest blow came in early August when a female and back-young had both been hit by a car or cars on Ballina Rd. When the body was re-trieved it was found to be the star of our urban tracking program, Ruby. Her back-young could not be found. We know that Ruby had three previous bubs and

was still in her prime being only 5 years old. Another tagged male, Sirus, who had been in care three years ago, was reported deceased. A tagged female released in 2009 again came into care presenting with severe conjunctivitis and bi-lateral cysts. Aged nine years, she was eu-thanased. Now, for the good news. Four boofy boys have been released, all back

into their home ranges, looking much healthier and in good condition due to being fed a paste supplement, which they just love!! One of these was a four-year old named Banjo

home carers has had a bit of trouble with her soft-release enclosure. Four of her little rascals kept on escaping – not go-ing very far of course; service at the Dobners’ is too good for that. Following careful examination Barb and Simon discovered several holes so it was back

into the enclosed run until renovations could be carried out. They’re back in soft-release now. Let’s hope this time they stay put long enough to learn sufficient tree-climbing skills to be released. Barbara was also given an-other little delight named Sabrina (the teenage witch).

Weighing 730gr, I could only cope for 3 hours of her non-stop growling and squeaking; couldn’t wait to handover the noisy brat. Needless to say Barbara had a few sleepless nights before Sabrina settled into the “Dobner Wildlife Sanctu-ary”. Another joey that was happily handed over to home-carer legend, Jenny Gra-ham, had a truly tragic start to life. He was found sitting beside the dead body of his Mum who had been attacked by a domestic dog in the Clarence Valley. He was given to Jenny weighing only 427gr. and he was quite sick for the first few weeks. Recently though, he has been eating well and begun to increase in weight. Fawn, a female joey has been released and much to Jenny’s delight, sighted occasionally. As always we continue to experience the highs and lows of koala care and this reporting period has been especially poignant for some of our volunteers. A deceased female along with her 1.5kg male back-young was re-ported by security at Lis-more High School. It was school holidays so the koalas were not immedi-ately discovered. The female was tagged and although un-named our records revealed that she was in care in 2002. This old girl would have been aged twelve to thirteen years. As we had just ex-perienced some harsh cold, wet weather we think that she just could not cope and the back-young expired due to hypother-mia. In July a call came in reporting a de-ceased tagged koala who turned out to be Nu Nu, who had come in due to ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. Although Nu

Pat Barnidge

—continued page 4

Indigo

Banjo being released at Wyrallah by Lili Bailly



who had a particularly stubborn dose of cystitis and was four months in care. We

could tell Banjo really was glad to say goodbye as he did a very quick sprint up his release tree. Alexander came into care after scratching on Susan-

nah’s (our Treasurer’s) door. Since his release Susannah sees him regularly. Just recently a female came on the scene and

In Care

Released Died Dead on Arrival

Euth. Trans. Unable to capture

Ad-vice

Injured (4) 1 1 2

HBC– Road strike (17) 3 1 2 9 1 1

Dog attack (3) 1 2

Diseased/Sick (45) 4 7 1 2 19 6 6

Health status unknown /unrecorded (17)

2 8 4 3

Healthy/Assumed Healthy (60)

2 58

Orphans/joeys (11) 6 1 1 1 2

Permanent Care (4) 4

Totals (161) 17

11 7 22 26 11 67

Koala Care Statistics 27 May 2013 – 23 August 2013 Friends of the Koala attended to or provided advice on a total of 161 koalas

after a night of being kept awake by their mating screeching and growling, Susannah spotted Alexander looking very pleased with himself!!!! Another good news story was the mum with pouch-young who came down in a macadamia tree that was being felled. Although both came down with the tree, after an overnight stay at the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital they were both de-clared none the worse for wear. They were released into nearby safe habitat the next day. I think we are in for a busy spring/summer season as our koalas continue to move around their territories. We know we will be confronted by some

sad rescues and I hope that these instanc-es will be balanced by other good news rescues. Last but not least on behalf of FOK a huge vote of thanks to Ray Austin, our local vet who does so much of our koala assessment, along with CWH and AZWH who take on our trauma cases and never say ‘no’ to taking on our ani-mals no matter how busy they are. My thanks to all those involved in this roller-coaster we call koala care and please remember to leave containers of water at base of trees when you see a koala. With the onset of the warm, dry weather they will be looking for water. Happy koala spotting

—Pat Barnidge

Alexander at release in June

A t the southern approach to the vil-lage of Broadwater on the western

side of the Pacific Highway is a shady and scenic picnic spot; just the place for northward bound motorists to stop for a cuppa and to stretch their legs.

Beyond the attractive landscaping, ta-bles and mown grass where cars draw off the busy road is a couple of hectares of good koala habitat. This part of the Reserve is traversed by mown walking tracks. For 30 years at least the 2.7 hectare site

accommodated a healthy koala colony which ranged the area from Rileys Hill down to the Broadwater National Park. Privately owned, the Mid-Richmond Lions Club maintained the site as a Ko-ala Sanctuary which was the delight of Broadwater residents and tourists alike. Then, in 1989 the owner put the land up for sale at an asking price of $60,000. Residents feared that the stately Forest Red Gums would go and the ground sold for housing. The Lower Richmond Friends of the Koala was established in June of the same year. Mark Wilson was one of its foundation members. The first meeting addressed the issue of how to raise suf-ficient money to make a bid for the Sanctuary. Letters were written to over 50 movers and shakers across the coun-try seeking financial assistance. Rich-mond River Shire Council as it was then was lobbied to change the zoning to preserve the trees. School children at Broadwater and Woodburn also took up

their pens, flooding the then Minister for the Environment, Tim Moore, with pleas for the land to be acquired by the government so that Broadwater’s koalas would be protected forever. The campaign was eventually success-ful. In early July 1990 Ballina’s Mem-ber, Don Page announced that contracts had been exchanged, the land would undergo ‘formal assessment’ to estab-lish its future use and after approval by the then Minister for Natural Resources, Ian Causley, would be declared a reser-vation under the Crown Lands Act 1989. But that was not the end of the story. In November 1990 the Jali Local Aborigi-nal Land Council lodged a land claim over the area. Friends of the Koala wrote to the Council telling them of the battle they had waged to preserve the treed site for the koalas. The two par-ties met in early 1991 and the claim was amended.

Broadwater Koala Reserve




Care Centre Co-ordinator’s Report scheme, but this is just the start. Anyone who has visited the Centre knows how limited space is for the vari-ety of tasks that need to be performed in

it. Over the years we have acquired a lot of bits and piec-es that served a function at the time but which have outlived their usefulness. With so many people involved it can be difficult to agree on what is still needed and what can be discarded. The Store Room was cleaned out a few months ago but now we need to bite the bullet with the shared working area.

We’re starting with re-arranging the merchandise dis-play so we can fully utilise the cupboard space we have. In-creased wall-storage is part of the answer and fortunately we have access to just what we need. The first step has been taken and over the next few weeks we hope to

complete the job. Currumbin Wildlife Hospital held its Annual Open Day in July and I drove four of our volunteers up to see what goes on behind the scenes. Meg Cottee, Kim Lewis, Daniel Shead and Eliz-abeth Gianneas were delighted to see the Hospital in action and we all enjoyed a great day. At the beginning of August we, like other wildlife rehab groups, were amazed to receive an email from Greens Senator Larissa Waters that the Australian Greens were looking to recognise and support wildlife carers for their work by way of a $15million funding plan over 3 years. Of course, it’s only a proposal and a pre-election proposal at that, but very wel-come nevertheless. It would be wonder-ful if the Federal government took some responsibility for sharing the real costs of native wildlife rescue and rehabilita-

tion. September is Save the Koala month, the Australian Koala Foundation’s annual awareness and fundraising campaign. This year’s theme is It’s time to worry mate! I was intrigued to see that the Foundation is committed to working towards a one-stop piece of Federal leg-islation for koalas, a Koala Protection Bill and then a Koala Protection Act. Donations they receive during Save the Koala Month will be allocated to cam-paigning for the new legislation’s intro-duction. As usual I sincerely thank everyone who volunteers at the Koala Care Centre, whether they attend to the koalas in care, collect leaf, or whether they’re involved in maintenance ensuring that the Centre always looks its best.

—Lola Whitney

T he Koala Care Centre has received a lot of attention over past months.

In July, Roy Johnson, Peter Bale and Daniel Shead built new perches for our four permanent koalas includ-ing an extra high pole for each of them. Hera, Rosalie, Joanna and our newest resident, Sweetie have great fun squab-bling over who gets to sit where. An EnviTE team of young people supervised by Chris Owen spent a day taking the old sand out of the permanent enclosure and replacing it with new sand. They also spread gravel around all of the work areas. A team

from the Multitask Human Resource Foundation led by Rex Williams cleaned up the grounds, and best of all, the Care Centre has just been repainted. Painter Greg Keegan did a great job, donating one day of his time to us as well as arranging donations of paint, sugar soap and other necessities. Thanks to Dave Smith from Haymes Paints, Nigel Moore, Manager of J.H Williams and Paul Watkins from the paint depart-ment who kindly delivered the paint and drop sheets etc. Jason Connell also helped us out with what was needed.

The Care Centre is looking fresh again. We all like the new green colour

Lola Whitney

EnviTE Employment’s team hard at work

Greg Keegan donated a days labour painting the Koala Care Centre

Roy Johnson (r) assisted by Daniel Shead (l) and Peter Bale (c) installing the new perches

School groups are regular visitors to the Care Centre. In June Shearwater, the Mullumbimby Steiner School gave us this lovely reminder of their visit.

Treetops is printed on recycled paper.



Koalas are counng on you

The 2013 NSW Great Koala Count is on! November 7 to 17

Popula�ons of Koalas in NSW have declined substan�ally as a result of habitat loss and other threats such

as disease, fire, dog a�acks and vehicles strikes. The habitat which remains is o#en fragmented and infest-

ed with weeds, making it difficult for Koalas to move from one area to another.

As our climate grows ho�er and drier, our Koalas are at risk of becoming the world’s first climate change

refugee species. We need to act now to stop this from happening.

By par�cipa�ng in the NSW Great Koala Count you will be helping to build a more detailed picture of

Koalas and their habitat use, providing a valuable resource for planning future conserva�on projects.

The Na�onal Parks Associa�on of New South Wales, in partnership with the Great Eastern Ranges Ini�a-

�ve, wants your help to survey Koalas this November as part of the NSW Great Koala Count.

Anyone can par�cipate. All you need to do is register at www.npansw.org.au/data. You will receive an

email when the Koala count SmartPhone App ‘BioTag’ is available.

BioTag, an exci�ng new GPS enabled SmartPhone App has been developed for the Great Koala Count to

enable you to instantly record, review and share your sigh�ngs of Koalas.

The Great Koala Count will, for the first �me, provide publically accessible informa�on about Koala

loca�on, health and habitat on an unprecedented scale across New South Wales.

How you can help

How to take part Register online at www.npansw.org.au/data You need to

register on our data portal before downloading the App.

A#er registering, you will be no�fied by email when the

BioTag App is available to download. (Want to go lowtech?

You can enter your records online or download our paper

survey at www.npansw.org.au/data.)

Have a prac�ce – you can upload prac�ce records and exam-

ine your data right up un�l the count starts on November 7,

2013. For more informa�on visit: www.npansw.org.au/koala

Between November 7 and 17, search for Koalas in your back-

yard, property or wider local area and upload your records via

the BioTag App or NPA data portal.

You will receive a copy of the report on the NSW Great Koala

Count when it is published. As a Ci�zen Scien�st, you will also

be able to access an interac�ve map of sigh�ngs, and review

all the data from the Great Koala Count 2013.

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Join this exci�ng project today - the Koalas are coun�ng on you!

The NSW Great Koala Count is a Citizen Science project, bringing together people from across the community to

help collect and share scientific information.

Why Koalas need your help

Brought to you by In Partnership with



A s you can see from the flyer oppo-site the NSW Great Koala Count is

coming up fast! This is a National Parks Association of NSW Citizen Scientist project, run in partnership with the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, where people are being asked to record the location of Koalas across the State from November 7th to 17th, 2013. Planned to be an annual event, infor-mation collected from the Great Koala Count will provide a detailed under-standing of where our koalas are located and how they move across the land-scape. This knowledge will help scien-tists and land managers better under-stand how koalas will respond to cli-mate change and what we need to do to improve their ability to move to more suitable habitat as our climate changes. The Northern Rivers has been nominat-ed a focus area for the state-wide count because of the widespread presence of koalas, a tradition of community con-cern and stewardship, and the diversity of established koala conservation and management activities and projects.

A working group has been formed to help implement the Count in the Region by focussing effort and actively engag-ing known koala advocates and support-ers as well as encouraging the participa-tion of potential advocates. The group includes the Count’s co-ordinator, Dr Gráinne Cleary (NPA), Jane Baldwin, (Nature Conservation Trust Communi-cations Officer – for GERI), Lorraine Vass (FOK), Dr. Jo Green (Byron Shire Council Koala Connections), and Sally Jacka (Tweed Shire Council Koala Con-nections).

Once the BioTag App, which has been developed for the project, is publically launched on 1 October, it will be availa-ble to download from the NPA's Citizen Science website. To register and for more information, go to www.koalacount.org.au.

Questions have been raised regarding using BioTag in areas where there is no phone reception. This is not a problem as BioTag is a GPS enabled App. Phone reception is not required to rec-ord a sighting. BioTag works the same way a car navigation system works, using global positioning satellites to record the location of your koala sight-ing. Once you enter an area where you can get mobile reception, or WiFi, your data will be uploaded automatically to the portal. How fantastic is that! Alternatively, if you do not have access to a GPS enabled Smartphone, you can still take part in the Count by entering your sightings straight onto the NPA's web portal via www.koalacount.org.au (click under "Add Koala Data"). In this case, you can plot the location directly on a map, and then answer questions about the koala. The Great Koala Count flyer can be downloaded from www.npansw.org.au/greatkoalacount.pdf Feel free to share it on facebook with friends and family to help spread the word! Remember, the

success of this project depends on the number of Citizen Scientists like you who partici-pate. Great Koala Count Community Work-shop Invitation Two workshops will be held during October. They will outline the project’s Citizen Sci-ence focus, the data already being collected on the Northern Rivers

and what is anticipated being added from the event, the Bio Tag App, re-cording and editing sighting records on the App, on-line or hard copy, a bit of koala-spotting advice, and on-ground practice (SCU’s campus is a haven for Lismore’s urban koalas).

Tweed Venue to be announced. Saturday 12 October 2013 1.30pm to 3.30pm rsvp: Tanya Fountain on 6670 2587 or [email protected] Lismore Room Z181, Southern Cross University Rifle Range Road, East Lismore Sunday 13 October 2013 1.30pm to 3.30pm rsvp: Lorraine Vass on 6629 8388 or

[email protected]

The 2013 NSW Great Koala Count Thinking of submitting a Development Application (DA) to Council?

If so, is your property/development in an area which Council believes might effect koalas? Then, before you do anything else, con-tacting Friends of the Koala (FOK) makes a great deal of sense. It can save you time, money and frustration. FOK wants to work with you on your development before you lodge your DA. We offer you the following:

• our data on koala rescues in the area concerned, known koala corridors and movement patterns in the sur-rounding areas to assist in scoping your development;

• advice on, and provision of, koala-friendly, appropriate trees. FOK is a specialist provider of local prove-nance koala-friendly trees; and

• advice on measures that would re-duce the likelihood of negative koala impacts, including caveats, traffic calming devices and koala-friendly dog-exclusion fencing, koala friendly swimming pools and the provision of animal crossings such as underpass-es and bridges.

As you can see, we have a great deal to offer that might assist in your progress through the approval process. Contact: Mark Wilson, FOK Trees Officer, 0413 339 554.

Friends of the Koala, Inc. PO Box 5034, East Lismore, NSW, 2480. www.friendsofthekoala.org ABN: 69322819171

Volunteers working for

• koala rescue and rehabilitation

• advocacy

• education

• research

• environmental repai

Great Koala Count Northern Rivers Working Group (l-r) Dr. Gráinne Cleary, Dr. Jo Green, Lorraine Vass, Sally Jacka and Jane Baldwin



T he 2013-2014 Committee of Man-agement will be elected at the An-

nual General Meeting on 26 September 2013. Now is the time to be thinking about putting yourself forward for nomi-nation. Under the Constitution adopted in 2009, Friends of the Koala is required to have a Management Committee of not less than ten (the office-bearers and at least three ordinary members), and no more than thirteen members. Being on the Committee requires a com-mitment of time to attend the six meet-ings held over the twelve month term and to assist in actioning the business resulting from Committee decisions. Most of us are time-poor, however Committee membership is rewarding. some real benefits. Committee members are the group’s decision-makers. Participation really fast-tracks a member’s understanding of the breadth of activities we are involved in and the way in which the organisation functions. It can be a learning experi-ence, especially if a person has not pre-viously served on a committee. You work closely with fellow Committee members and, yes, there can be a sense of real achievement. FOK does not ex-pect people to stay on its Committee indefinitely but we would like a com-mitment for the full term. The Committee is responsible for con-trolling and managing the group’s af-fairs. It is accountable for compliance with the conditions of our rehabilitation and release licence and other legislative obligations. It develops the direction of policy for our activities including rescue and care, habitat, community education, advocacy, lobbying, and research. Of-fice-bearers attend to administration including, finance, correspondence, marketing and promotion.

Management Committee Positions up for Election Recently the Committee has met at Lis-more Environmental Education Centre on a Saturday afternoon. The venue and timing of meetings can be altered to suit the majority. The seven office-bearing positions are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Care Co-ordinator, Koala Care Centre Co-ordinator and Trees Officer. The number of general commit-tee members depends on the number of nominations received. A few general committee members have occupied named positions which include Training Officer, Leaf Collection Co-ordinator, Publicity/Marketing Co-ordinator, Tele-phone Co-ordinator, Fundraising Of-ficer, Events Co-ordinator; and Mem-bership Officer. There is a degree of flexibility in the duties of non-office-bearing positions, depending on the skills and interests of members who would like to stand.

Office-bearing positions and a brief outline of their duties:

President: Provide leadership to FOK; prepare agendas for and chair meetings of the Committee of Management; chair the Friends of the Koala Care Fund Management Committee; co-ordinate advocacy and policy reform activities, prepare media releases; spokesperson; network.

Vice President: Support and deputize for President as required; assist with co-ordinating activities.

Secretary: Record minutes of Commit-tee of Management meetings; Prepare routine correspondence; Organise the Annual General Meeting.

Treasurer: Bank and manage finances; prepare financial reports; fulfill auditing obligations; receive and receipt fees for new membership nominations; prepare budget; member of the Friends of the Koala Care Fund Management Commit-tee.

Care Co-ordinator: Overall responsi-bility for the treatment and rehabilitation of all koalas brought into care; work closely with Care Centre Co-ordinator, Phone Co-ordinator, Training Officer, Home Carers and Veterinarians; author-ise diagnostic tests and referrals to the Australian Wildlife Hospital and Cur-rumbin Wildlife Hospital (authorisation of trips to the Hospital made in consulta-tion with President or delegate); main-tain accurate records including the data-base; prepare reports as required by the Committee; spokesperson.

Koala Care Centre Co-ordinator: Manage the Koala Care Centre; ensure maintenance and tidiness; supplies; oversee the hands-on training of rostered volunteers; co-ordinate involvement in voluntary work/award schemes; co-ordinate Supervisors’ meetings; prepare reports as required by the Management Committee.

Trees Officer: Co-ordinate Nursery and related activities; maintain associated records; target priority areas for habitat restoration; liaise with local government and other partners and stakeholders re-garding habitat matters; prepare reports as required by the Management Commit-tee.

All positions become vacant and re-quire formal nomination for election. If you are interested in finding out more about the Committee’s work or a partic-ular position, please contact the Presi-dent.

26 September: Friends of the Koala Annual General Meeting, Lismore & District Workers’ Sports Club, Goonel-labah, 7pm

28 September: Friends of the Koala Management Committee Meeting, Lis-more Environmental Education Centre, 1.30pm

30 September: Deadline for late 2013-2014 Friends of the Koala Member-ship Renewal (see Renewal Form: p.15)

12 October: The Great Koala Count Community Workshop, Venue to be announced, 1.30pm

13 October: The Great Koala Count Community Workshop, Room Z181, Southern Cross University (Lismore), 1.30pm

19-20 October: Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s 2013 Annual Con-ference, Law Foyer, University of Syd-ney

20 October: Friends of the Koala Stall, 7amish to 2pmish, Lismore Car-boot Market

2 November: North Coast Environ-ment Council Annual General Meet-ing, Community Village, Coffs Har-bour.

Dates for your Diary 7-17 November: The Great [NSW] Koala Count

17 November: Friends of the Koala Charity of the Day & Stall, 7amish to 2pmish, Lismore Carboot Market

23 November: Friends of the Koala Management Committee Meeting, Lis-more Environmental Education Centre, 1.30pm

26 November: NSW Wildlife Council 30th General Meeting, OEH Hurstville

26 November: Contributions due for

Treetops (December issue)



Friends of the Koala Inc.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Thursday 26 September, 2013 at 7.00 pm Lismore & District Workers’ Sports Club

202 Oliver Avenue, Goonellabah

Guest speakers from the

Koala Connections Project Team will speak on

Koala Connections ... What is and isn’t working 12 months on

Members and guests are invited to attend the Annual General Meeting to cel-ebrate Friends of the Koala’s achievements over the past twelve

months, and to elect the 2013-14 Committee.

Out-going Committee members invite you to join them for dinner in the Bistro at 5.45pm for 6.00pm (at own expense)



T he North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) has been protecting the old

growth and high conservation value for-ests of north-east NSW for the past 21 years. Last year, in August 2012 NEFA cam-paigners caught the Forestry Corporation logging a koala high-use area in the Roy-al Camp State Forest near Casino. Anoth-er three such areas were about to be logged. NEFA immediately brought the matter to the attention of the Environ-ment Protection Authority (EPA). In June the EPA issued three penalty no-tices for logging within a koala high-use area, logging within the buffer of a koala high-use area and failing to mark the boundary of a koala high-use area. The fine was $300 for each offence; $900 in all.

Over recent months NEFA has been cam-paigning heavily in the media on the EPA’s failure to deal adequately with the licence breaches. In early August the EPA announced a three month moratori-um on logging operations to allow de-tailed audits of the potential koala habitat in the areas that are still planned to be logged to be undertaken. The adequacy of the penalties was raised in the 2013-2014 Budget Estimate Hear-ing of Minister Parker on 16 August. Ra-ther than commenting directly, when asked whether the penalty was reasonable and assisted in protecting koalas, the Minister went into quite a bit of detail of the EPA’s 2012 investigation. Apparently 1,500 koala scats were found at the base of 90 koala food trees. The EPA found that the Forestry Corporation had failed to conduct a thorough search for koala use. While they had undertaken some koala survey-work and implemented some on-ground protections, these ac-tions were assessed as insufficient to meet the requirements of the threatened species licence. The EPA’s Chair and Chief executive

Royal Camp’s Koalas

I n the December 2011 issue of Treetops, there was an article on the

removal of Tallowwood windbreak trees bordering macadamia plantations around Dunoon and Dorroughby in the Lismore Council area. These trees, planted many years ago as windbreaks for young macadamias, had become an important food source for koalas, and were reported to be significant in the increase of koalas in the north and north-east. At the time, FOK was involved in a meeting of representatives from farm management, contractors, the Northern Rivers Catchment Management Author-ity, Lismore City Council and the Office of Environment and Heritage to discuss windbreak clearance and preserving koalas and their habitat. One of the meeting’s outcomes was to establish a small working party to de-velop best practice guidelines, intending to provide practical advice to orchard-ists considering planted vegetation re-moval. FOK was hopeful that there might be a sustainable solution to the windbreak issue, enabling a degree of co-existence between farm enterprises and koalas.

Unfortunately, as many of you might have read in the media in recent times, this has not happened, and a number of corporate owners of macadamia planta-tions have been busy removing tallow-wood trees around Dunoon and Eureka, with many more intended to be re-moved. In regard to the removal of trees by Hancock Farm Company Pty Ltd, an American-owned company with sub-stantial macadamia plantations in this area, FOK wrote to several senior man-agers in the organisation, both here and in the USA, requesting urgent reconsid-eration of this issue. A number of FOK Committee members attended a meeting on 19 August with Hancock’s Australian Managing Direc-tor, the local

agreed that that Forestry Corporation’s survey was not up to scratch and that the EPA is doing “…a lot of detailed work in terms of koala habitat and how we might protect that more easily….We think that we can arrive at a better result in protecting koala habitat if we can get our definitions [of core koala habitat] clearer and we can get coordinates on the ground that indicate where those protected areas are so that we do not have a subjective approach to this. ” The EPA has reviewed the Forestry Cor-poration’s operational documentation. The equivalent of twelve working days has been spent in site inspections in Royal Camp. The total cost of the inves-tigation has been in the order of $15,000. Renowned wildlife ecologist, Dave Milledge maintains, “… Royal Camp is one of the most important areas of pub-

lic land for koalas in the Northern Rivers re-gion.” For this reason NEFA is using the mor-atorium period to esca-late lobbying for Feder-al intervention and to raise people’s aware-ness of the situation via the media and first-hand, in the Forest. Towards the end of Ju-ly, veteran campaigner,

Dailan Pugh led a group of around 30 volunteers

brought together by the Casino Enviro Centre on a visit Royal Camp to learn and gather evidence of koala usage. More recently he took NSW Legislative Council Greens David Shoebridge and Jan Barham to see for themselves. Both MLCs delivered Adjournment Speeches about their visit in the Parliament on 28 August 2013.You can watch video clips at: http://davidshoebridge.org.au/2013/08/29/north-coast-forestry-koalas-under-threat/#sthash.5pJ8w5CP.dpuf We join NEFA in thanking David and Jan for raising Royal Camp and its im-portance for koalas in the NSW Parlia-ment. Last weekend a local film-crew, WIRES campaigner Justin McKee, accompanied by Pat and John Edwards, (Clarence Environment Centre) and Donna Gra-ham, (FOK) met Dailan and Dave to document a bit more of Royal Camp’s koala presence.

—Lorraine Vass

Windbreak Clearances


30 forest protectors from the Casino Enviro Centre visited Royal Camp on 23 July to document koala tree use

Recent windbreak removal at Eureka



countries and amounting to more than 2 million acres. The primary focus of the Wildlife Land Trust ‘is to encourage private land holders with an interest in habitat protection to join with like-minded people in a national and global effort for wildlife conservation’. By joining, you be-come a member of a worldwide group of sanctuaries promot-ing best conserva-tion practices and protecting wildlife and habitats. The program is voluntary, there are no costs or legal obligations involved and your property can be as small as 1 hectare, a working farm, fam-ily home or dedicated purely to conser-vation. You can find more information about this at www.wildlifelandtrust.org.au . Bill and I encourage anyone who’s in-terested in these programs to really con-sider becoming a member of one or both. Apart from helping to conserve our precious wildlife, it sits very com-fortably with a commitment to koalas.

—Ros Irwin Long Flat, Boatharbour Hannah Rice-Hayes’ big beaming smile across the table told us we’d done some-thing right. Hannah is a representative for Land for Wildlife. We asked Hannah to come along to have a look at the work that has been done at Boatharbour. For the past six years, Long Flat at Boatharbour has been a fascinating pro-ject for its owners. First, approximately 300 koala food trees were planted in February 2008. Next, in early 2011, Greenfleet (a carbon credit company) supervised 10 acres of native plantings on the floodplain.

A local landscape architect marked out paths, outdoor classroom, bush-food garden and bird hide, so that trees would not be planted in these special areas. The hillside behind the house paddock was planted with dry subtropical rainfor-est plants including the three koala pri-mary food tree species during 2011 – 2013. Maintenance, including weeding, water-ing, mulching, and slashing for all plant-ings was carried out by Greencorp, En-viTE, Friends of the Koala members and the owners.

Treetops has featured a few articles about voluntary conservation over the years but in this issue we mark the re-turn of the Land for Wildlife scheme in the Lismore LGA (initially introduced in 2002) with two stories by FOK members whose properties have been recently accredited. Treetops, Caniaba My husband, Bill, and I have recently had our property – Treetops (coincidentally named after my family’s home in Roseville, not this Newsletter) – endorsed as its 209th Australian sanc-tuary by the Wildlife Land Trust, and as Land for Wildlife by the Community Environment Network. Consequently our entrance is now well-marked!

In regard to Land for Wildlife, locally our property was the first assessed and recommended by Richmond Landcare on behalf of the Community Engage-ment Network. We have 4.65 hectares of land, 2 hectares of which is dry rain-forest under restoration, and 1.5 of dry sclerophyll. Another part of our property is a koala food tree plantation with about 150 trees that we intend to provide leaf for koalas in care at the Care Centre. As well as demonstrating a commitment to conservation of native wildlife, prop-erty owners also need to commit to im-proving native habitat, and receive much advice about how to achieve this. One of the recommendations we’re considering is how to ensure that the koala food trees remain accessible to FOK into the future and are exploring having a con-servation covenant on that part of the property. Any enquiries can be directed to Richmond Landcare Inc. Community Support Officer Hannah Rice-Hayes on [email protected]. The Wildlife Land Trust is an interna-tional program of the Humane Society International, which has sanctuaries covering over 300 properties in eight

The transformation of a 20 acre rectan-gle of over-grazed dairy paddocks con-taining three trees, to potential habitat for koalas and native animals brought

Hannah here. The last important step is to connect our new habitat to older more established wild places. McLean’s Ridges remnants are close by. It was decided to create a corridor of koala food trees across the slope of a neighbour’s proper-ty to encourage koa-

las to move along to Long Flat This pro-ject is in its early planning stages. Smiling Hannah told us that it did not matter that all our trees were young, and that we have not developed viable habi-tat yet – the important thing was our attitude and conservation intent for the future. A few days later, we received a Certificate of Membership with Land for Wildlife. A photo or two was taken. We were beaming with Hannah.

This conservation thing is a very happy business.

—Dot Moller

farm manager and one of Hancock’s botanists. At this stage, the only agree-ment reached with Hancock is that any further removal of trees will be deferred until after the koala breeding season, but beyond that, no compromise seems to be achievable. FOK is pursuing other ways of address-ing this issue. In the meantime, we con-tinue to deal with reports of koalas dis-placed due to windbreak removal.

—Ros Irwin

Voluntary Conservation – How you can Help

—from page 10

Ros and Bill’s Entrance before the installation of their Land for Wildlife sign

Ros, Hannah and Bill

Dot and Glen



F riends of the Koala’s income is de-rived from numerous sources: com-

petitive grants, membership subscrip-tions, nursery and merchandise sales, donations, fund-raising initiatives, the Support-a-Koala program, occasional one-off sponsorships/donations and of course our on-going partners and spon-sors. Over the years the balance of those sources has changed quite signifi-cantly. For example in more recent years we have become much more success-ful in obtain-ing govern-ment grants. Nevertheless quite a consid-erable amount of our volun-teers’ time is spent on income-generating activities. We couldn’t do what we do without the generosity of so many partners, sponsors, and members of the public. Income is one thing, in-kind or donated services quite another. A case in point is the veterinary services received by the koalas which are admitted into our care. Those treatments, surgery, tests, etc., would if they were costed, run unto hun-dreds of thousands of dollars. We and the Australian community owe a great debt to the Australia Zoo Wild-life Hospital and the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital which both rely heavily on public donations to continue their bril-liant work. Here in Lismore, the pro bono service provided by the Keen Street Veterinary Clinic is also deserv-ing of our gratitude. So who are these other partners and sponsors who help cover our operating costs? In 2006 the Tony & Lisette Lewis Foun-dation through its WildlifeLink program donated our rescue van and leaf-trailer. Each year since WildlifeLink has ap-proved our grant applications for on-costs such as registration, service charg-es and insurances. In the same year we commenced apply-ing for the Federal government’s Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainabil-ity and Heritage Organisation. This pro-

gram’s purpose is to assist in meeting administrative costs and although we only receive relatively modest amounts, our success each year has seen the Fed-eral government contribute $13,600 to Friends of the Koala. On top of this we have received grants under the Small Equipment and Volunteer Grants pro-grams on two occasions.

At the state level we have lodged three successful applications for the NSW Envi-ronment Trust’s Lead Environ-mental Commu-nity Groups grant program, totally $32,000. The Northern Rivers Regional Office of the NSW National Parks and Wild-life Service con-tinues to offer a

modest annual un-tied grant. We’ve also received a few grants for specific pro-jects. The amalgamation of several agencies including the Catchment Management Authority to form the new Local Land Service which will take effect in January 2014 brought us an unexpected windfall. The Northern Rivers Environment Trust administered by a management commit-tee drawn from the Northern Rivers [CMA] Board had to be wound-up. We received more than $14,000 for works which we have pledged to complete by the end of 2014. It’s not often that a gov-ernment decision to change its service delivery agencies impacts positively on a voluntary group such as ours. We sin-cerely thank Chair Rod McKelvey and the Trust’s committee members for their confidence in our koala conservation mission. Lismore City Council has funded Friends of the Koala with an annual s356 donation of $2,000 since 1996. The Council also waives tip fees, slashes the Koala Food Tree Plantation on Wyrallah Road (which is planted on Council land) and leases us the Koala Care Centre site for a peppercorn rent. We are presently negotiating with Council for other koala plantation sites. Tweed Shire Council has granted us a s356 donation of $2,500 over the past three years. Another surprise this year has been a

Where does the money come from? $5,000 donation from Murwillumbah-based Power Super Foods, a certified organic, vegan, fairly-trading, animal-loving, Australian-owned company that donates to a number of environmental organisations. Power Super Foods’ brand, Berry Power donates to us, Ani-mals Australia and Free the Bears Fund every three years in rotation. Each year we list our known benefactors in the Annual Report. Thank you to each and every one of them; you are all true Friends of the Koala.

—Lorraine Vass

The Broadwater Koala Reserve for En-vironmental Protection and Public Rec-reation was notified on 30 August 1991 and members appointed to the Trust responsible for its management. The minutes of the inaugural meeting of the Broadwater Koala Reserve Trust were read to the Lower Richmond Friend of the Koala meeting held on 4 February 1992. Perhaps the group’s overriding objective had been achieved because around that time it seems to have wound up, absorbed by the recent-ly incorporated Friends of the Koala we are today. Friends of the Koala still maintains an interest in the Reserve. I have been a Trustee for about eight years and Chair for the past few. At the AGM held in mid-August other office-bearers elected were Sonya Price, Vice-Chair, Jenny McDonald, Secretary and Betty Archer, Treasurer. Koalas are rarely seen in the Reserve these days. Increased highway usage has accounted for so many deaths resi-dents no longer think to report them. Nevertheless the Reserve is still valued by Broadwater folk, some of whom turn out for occasional working bees, and those tourists who meander through the bush because it is there.

—Lorraine Vass

—from page 4

Power Super Foods’ Berry Power range of products donates to FOK on a three year rotation



T regeagle Landcare Group has been granted $100,000 over three years

to restore koala habitat on thirteen par-ticipating properties. The project’s objectives are, to improve the health and connectivity of 30 ha of koala habitat at Tregeagle through sys-tematic bush regeneration and strategic planting of 800 trees, and to improve the capacity of Tregeagle Landcare, land-holders and the Lismore Community to protect, restore and connect significant koala habitat through training and field day events and project promotion. At the launch held on Tues-day 6 August with over 50 people attending, President Jim Kinkead said “The suc-cess of winning this grant is due to the commitment of the local landholders to improv-ing the environment. Our group includes macadamia growers, cattle farmers and smaller rural blocks. We are all working together to im-prove the future for koalas.” Friends of the Koala’s Mark Wilson said “Tregeagle is important for the long term survival of koalas in the Lismore area. It is in a koala corridor and is a key area for breeding”. Friends of the Koala is growing trees that will be planted to extend and connect koala habitat.Cr. Simon Clough, Lismore City Council Deputy Mayor noted that “The project

implements recommendations of the Lismore City Council Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management.” Jim Kinkead continued “We have al-ready made a start on controlling weeds and planting koala food trees. Now that we have a grant of $100,000 over three

years from the NSW Environmental Trust Restoration and Rehabilitation program we will be able to do so much more!” Over the next three years Tregeagle Landcare Group will work with bush regenerators from EnviTE Environment to restore and connect significant koala habitat. Weeds are limiting koala move-ment, access to food trees and regenera-tion. Connectivity of habitat will be in-creased through control of weeds and planting koala food trees.

The Tregeagle Public School Junior Landcare Group also attended the launch. The Group was formed last year and Tregeagle Landcare Group is men-toring participating students. The Junior Landcare Group has already attended field days on Koala habitat restoration

and will be involved in re-cording sightings of koalas. As part of this current project the Group has started keeping measurements of the growth of koala food trees planted at Tregeagle. The opportunities provided by the past and present pro-jects are fostering a great relationship which is helping the kids with environmental awareness. Thomas George MP Member for Lismore officially launched the project.

—Jim Kinkead

Tregeagle Koala Habitat Restoration & Corridor

Connections Project T he Council’s 29th General Meeting and 8th AGM were held over the

weekend of 24-25 August with 17 mem-ber groups represented. Resignation from the Council of founda-tion member WIRES was accepted with regret. With well over 2,000 members WIRES is the State’s, if not Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisation. About half of NSW’s licensed wildlife rehabbers belong to WIRES. Just what, if any consequences there might be in this parting of ways remains to be seen. Clearly the Council is no longer speaking for the entire wildlife rehabilitation sector in NSW. The business of most interest to Friends of the Koala was demonstration of the IFAW/NWC Wildlife Rescue Smart phone App, due to be launched on 1 De-cember 2013. The App is being devel-oped to address the perennial problem facing the general public of who to call in the event of a wildlife welfare issue, more specifically an injured animal. The App will enable members of the pub-lic to use their phone to find the nearest rescue group to call. Not only will expe-dited rescues save lives, peoples’ aware-ness of native wildlife, their welfare and the groups that are responsible for rescue and care, will be raised. The App may also resolve the long-debated need for a state-wide wildlife rescue phone number. Winners of this year’s Small Grants Pro-gram for Wildlife Carers were an-nounced. Each received $1,000 towards their submitted project: Gerardine Haw-kins (Wildlife Rescue South Coast); Charmian Eckersby, Lesley & Bill Wa-terhouse (Wildcare Queanbeyan/Native Animal Rescue Group); Judy Cooper (Native Animal Rescue Group); and Julie & Bill McConnell (Independent General Licencees) The 2013-2014 Executive is: Audrey Koosman (NATF) – Chair Meredith Ryan (FAWNA) – Vice Chair/Public Officer Jane Mills (WRSC) – Secretary Shirley Lack (NARG) – Treasurer Shona Lorigan (ORRCA) – Media Of-ficer Richard Woodman (WRSC) – General Member Julia McConnell (IGL) – General Mem-ber If you are interested in following the Council’s business more closely go to www.nwc.org.au

NSW Wildlife Council Report

Proud land holders with Thomas George, MP (in tie)

Tregeagle Public School Junior Landcare Group with earlier plantings in the background



New members A very warm welcome to the following new members who have been formally accepted into Friends of the Koala over recent months: Paul Johnansen and Niina Mattila of Casino, Toni Cameron of Lennox Head, Amanda Sulter and William James of Goonellabah, Iain Smith of Wyrallah, Alana Papa, Karilyn Sisko, Joy Win-dow, Nozomu Takeuchi, and Janey Kenny of Lismore, Margy Alexander of South Lismore, Sharon O’Brien of East Lismore, Jack Quinn of Belmont and Peter Timms of Kelvin Grove, Queens-land. Ken Wakefield of Ellangowen, Sally Young of Ocean Shores and Heidi & Michael Grehn of Lismore rejoined. Oscar the Koala Sniffer Remember Oscar, the black Labrador-cross being used to sniff out koalas on land scheduled for hazard reduction burn-ing in the Monaro Region? Well, he spent four days in July assisting NSW Forestry Corporation to search through 100ha of Royal Camp State Forest for koalas. The Corporation’s regional ecologist said that Oscar had been brought up to the North Coast to complement their survey work. The trees Oscar identified have been mapped and combined with the rest of their survey data to more accurately iden-tify Koala High Use Areas to be excluded from logging operations. Funding Success Our application for funding under the Caring for our Country Community Envi-ronment Grants program to continue re-storing and connecting primary koala habitat in urban Lismore’s Hillcrest Re-serve has been successful. We also picked up a small Federal Volunteers Grant. Many thanks to committee mem-ber Fiona Dawson, for preparing both applications. Farmer Charlie Winner L McKeogh of Lismore was the winner of our September Farmer Charlie raffle. Many thanks to eve-ryone who supported the raffle and a very special thanks to the FOK volunteers who sold tickets over the three days: Susannah Keogh, Lyn Isbester, Lili Bailly, Lola Whitney, Liz & Terry Marshall, Denise Braidwood, Lindsay Jarvis, Merri-lyn Cusack, Meg Cottee, Pat Barnidge and Fay Sharpe. Please turn over a new leaf Northern Rivers artist, Jill Garsden has just completed a new coloured pencil and graphite work entitled 'Please turn over a new leaf'. She

R honda first got involved with koalas when volunteering at the Cur-

rumbin Wildlife Sanctuary but felt she wanted to do more so she contacted Friends of the Koala. Living in the Tweed, she’s a bit too far away for working at the Koala Care Centre so she took on the phone. She’s been doing two evening shifts a week since early 2010.

What's the best thing about where you live? I moved up here from southern

NSW to get away from the ex-tremes in the weather, I don’t miss the cold. I like being near the beach to the east and the mountain ranges to the west. I could play

golf at a different club every day!!

What are you reading? Jack of Dia-monds by Bryce Courtney, his last book before his death.

What is your favourite movie? Any-thing that makes me laugh or has a grip-ping storyline.

What's your favourite hobby/pastime? I love to garden and play golf; I rescue and care for native wildlife.

Your idea of a perfect Sunday? Sitting on my deck reading or taking my puppy to the beach.

Your most memorable travel experi-ence? I have travelled quite a bit, taking 12 months off, wandering around over-seas. I’ve had many wonderful experi-ences.

What would you most like to be doing in five year's time? To be healthy enough to still be caring for our wonder-ful wildlife.

Who is the person you'd most like to meet? The person who finds a cure for cancer.

What has been your favourite koala moment? Every moment I have spent in the company of a beautiful koala has been a privilege. They are an amazing creature and in great need of our help.

Member Profile - Rhonda Miller Bulletin Board says she’s not sure whether to classify it as a pencil painting or a drawing, as it's a bit of both. The lower part is in graph-ite rather than colour to symbolize the loss of vitality in the koalas' habitat which is causing such a decline in their health and numbers. Jill said on FB that she had Friends of the Koala in mind when she was working on the piece; “… this is as close to a visual political state-ment as I can make.” If you are interest-ed in seeing more of Jill’s work visit her website at www.echidnaspikes.com

Pay it forward Elders Alstonville's Carol Mewing pre-sented a Pay It Forward donation of $250 from the commission on auction-ing Lyn Skillings’ Wardell property (the old National Bank) back in July. Lyn is a graphic designer and book illustrator and a long-time FOK supporter. She designed our original logo back in the 1980s. Lyn has been living on the Mac-leay for a couple of years now. We thank her and Elders Alstonville for supporting our koala conservation mis-sion.

Jill Garsden’s pencil painting/drawing symbolising the loss of vitality of koala habitat

Carol Mewing presenting the cheque to FOK president



Name………………………………………………………..………………….

Postal address…………………………………………………………………..

City/Suburb……………………. Postcode……….Country……………...

Phone……………………….….. Mobile…………………………………

Email…………………………………………………………………...............

Membership category (please tick)

� Ordinary—Individual/Family (within Australia) ................................. $20

� Concession—Full time Student/Pensioner (within Australia) .............. $10

� International—Individual/Family (outside Australia) .......................... $50

I/We would like to make an additional donation of : $ ................

Total payment is: $..................

Payment by:

�Direct Debit (your name as reference) to: Friends of the Koala Inc., BSB 722-744

A/C 38533 Southern Cross Credit Union Ltd.

or �Cash (preferred) �Cheque �Money order

�Credit card (amounts over $20) Cardholder Name…………………………………….

Card Type (e.g. Visa)….…….………..….Number…………………………….…….Expiry Date (mm/yy)…./.…

Post to: The Treasurer, Friends of the Koala Inc., PO Box 5034, East Lismore, NSW 2480

I agree to abide by the licensing requirements, the constitution and the policies of ‘Friends of the Koala’ Inc.

Signature…. ………………………………………………………………………………Date….…/….…/……..

The Management Committee reserves the right to refuse any application for membership or renewal.

I/We are interested in: (please tick)

� Tree Planting

� Plant Nursery work

� Caring for sick & injured koalas

� Leaf collection

� Rescue

� Committee / Administration

� Fundraising

� Publicity

� Education

� Surveys / Mapping

� Information Technology

� Phone Roster

� I/We would like someone to phone and explain about

volunteering with Friends of the Koala

Office Use Only

Date Received……………Receipt #...................Donation Receipt #.....................Date Passed by Committee………..

Contact Information: 24 hr Rescue Hotline: 6622 1233 Koala Care Centre: 6621 4664

email:[email protected] web:www.friendsofthekoala.org

Volunteers Working For: Koala Rescue and Rehabilitation . Advocacy . Education . Environmental Repair

President Lorraine Vass 6629 8388 [email protected]

Vice President Rick Stewart 6622 4258 [email protected]

Secretary Louise Charter 0410 570 672 [email protected]

Treasurer Susannah Keogh 0431 707 883 [email protected]

Trees Officer Mark Wilson 6624 5032 [email protected]

Care Coordinator Pat Barnidge 6622 3690 [email protected]

Care Centre Coordinator Lola Whitney 6621 3523 [email protected]

Training Officer Beverley Smith 6621 3671 [email protected]

Leaf Harvesting Coordinator Dot Moller 6628 4270 [email protected]

Phone Roster Coordinator Pat Barnidge 6622 3690 [email protected]

Application/renewal form — ‘Friends of the Koala, Inc.’ Membership runs from 1st July to 30th June.

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� Please tick here if you would like to receive Treetops by email (pdf colour file)



POSTAGE

PAID

AUSTRALIA

IF UNDELIVERABLE RETURN TO:

‘FRIENDS OF THE KOALA’ INC

PO BOX 5034

EAST LISMORE NSW 2480

PRINT POST APPROVED

1100002148

Deadline for next newsletter: 26 November 2013 Contributions gratefully accepted – please post to FOK or email [email protected]

september 2013 patron: margot sweeny (ceo, summerland … · 2016-09-28 · treetops sweetie’s...

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